Edward Francis-Story of an Undrafted Free Agent

nymetsfan5 · 05-19-2018, 09:11 PM

You have to be pretty bad not to be drafted after 40 rounds. The common sense thing to do would be to give up and find a new career. But some of us are crazy and still hold on to a dream of playing Major League Baseball.

My college career was well traveled to say the least. After two seasons at Sinclair Community College, I transferred to Dayton University. But during fall workouts, I blew out my knee and was forced to miss the season and redshirted. I had no scholarship, and Dayton is an expensive school, so I transferred SUNY Cortland for the last two years of my eligibility. SUNY Cortland has a pretty good program, but it is D3 so the competition isn't the greatest. I hit .335 with 15 homeruns while providing good defense behind the plate, but it wasn't enough to get drafted.

I still wanted to continue to play, so I reached out to some Indy ball teams, and got signed by the Washington Wild Things. My goal is to get out of here ASAP to get to an organization and make the majors.

nymetsfan5 · 05-19-2018, 09:37 PM

Here's the player profile.

nymetsfan5 · 05-19-2018, 09:54 PM

Well this is not exactly what I expected. The competition has been pretty stiff, and I am only hitting .198/.242/.314 with 1 home run in 86 at bats. Also, I have only thrown out 22.2% of basestealers. One positive is that I haven't allowed a passed ball, but the rest of the season has been frustrating so far.
Hopefully I can turn it on for the rest of the season, and maybe get attention by an MLB team.

nymetsfan5 · 05-20-2018, 10:41 AM

Despite playing like crap for the Wild Things, I got signed by the Baltimore Orioles!
Was not expecting that, but it is super exciting. Hopefully I play well enough to get signed for next year.

nymetsfan5 · 05-20-2018, 12:53 PM

Playing in the Orioles system has been great so far. After getting signed, I played in the Dominican Summer League for 2 games and hit .500. Then I got promoted to the Aberdeen Ironbirds in the New York-Penn League, which is short season ball for college players. I've hit .280/.364/.533 with 5 home runs. Hopefully I can keep it up for the rest of the season and earn a contract for next year.

nymetsfan5 · 05-21-2018, 04:47 PM

The end of the season went very well. In 40 games in short season A ball, I hit .266/.335/.429 with 5 home runs for the Aberdeen Ironbirds. The season ended up with a callup to Delmarva Shorebirds, which is the full season A ball team for the Orioles. I got into 3 games, and hit .300/.300/.500. Overall, this turned out to be a great season, and I am excited for next year. Hopefully I get assigned to Fredrick, which is the high A team. But I'll go anywhere they tell me, even extended spring training, because I don't want to go back to Indy ball.

nymetsfan5 · 05-21-2018, 04:47 PM

2017 Stats:

nymetsfan5 · 05-21-2018, 05:01 PM

Spending a month in extendo was not very fun. Waking up at 7 every day to do drills and play glorified scrimmages is really boring. Plus you don't get paid, and you live off of PB&J's. It's a great bonding experience to drink cheap beer with your buddies, but I wanted a little more than that. Thankfully I got called up to Frederick, and I am ready to get some meaningful at bats.

nymetsfan5 · 05-22-2018, 10:10 PM

I've spent a month in Fredrick and have only gotten into 4 games. I've done fairly well, hitting .308/.400/.308 but its only 4 games. I asked Skip what I need to do to get into more games, and he said that he'll try me out at third. Hopefully I play well, I have the arm, I just need the experience.

nymetsfan5 · 05-25-2018, 05:49 PM

Well, in roughly two months I played in 12 games for Fredrick in High A, hitting .270/.341/.270. Then I got called into the managers office to hear that I got traded to the Pirates, along with Chris Owings for Trevor Cahill. Hopefully I get more playing time in the Pirates organization.

nymetsfan5 · 05-25-2018, 06:28 PM

Well the rest of the season did not go as well as plan, but I at least played a lot more. I split time between Low and Full Season A ball, and did well. One thing that did bother me is that I did not hit a single home run last year. Hopefully I can turn that around this year.

After a great spring training, the Pirates assigned me straight to the Altoona Curve, the AA team. Excited for this awesome opportunity.

05-19-2018, 09:11 PM	#1
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	Edward Francis-Story of an Undrafted Free Agent You have to be pretty bad not to be drafted after 40 rounds. The common sense thing to do would be to give up and find a new career. But some of us are crazy and still hold on to a dream of playing Major League Baseball. My college career was well traveled to say the least. After two seasons at Sinclair Community College, I transferred to Dayton University. But during fall workouts, I blew out my knee and was forced to miss the season and redshirted. I had no scholarship, and Dayton is an expensive school, so I transferred SUNY Cortland for the last two years of my eligibility. SUNY Cortland has a pretty good program, but it is D3 so the competition isn't the greatest. I hit .335 with 15 homeruns while providing good defense behind the plate, but it wasn't enough to get drafted. I still wanted to continue to play, so I reached out to some Indy ball teams, and got signed by the Washington Wild Things. My goal is to get out of here ASAP to get to an organization and make the majors.

05-19-2018, 09:37 PM	#2
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	Here's the player profile. Attached Images Last edited by nymetsfan5; 05-20-2018 at 10:56 AM.

05-21-2018, 04:47 PM	#7
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	2017 Stats: Attached Images

05-19-2018, 09:54 PM	#3
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	Well this is not exactly what I expected. The competition has been pretty stiff, and I am only hitting .198/.242/.314 with 1 home run in 86 at bats. Also, I have only thrown out 22.2% of basestealers. One positive is that I haven't allowed a passed ball, but the rest of the season has been frustrating so far. Hopefully I can turn it on for the rest of the season, and maybe get attention by an MLB team.

05-20-2018, 10:41 AM	#4
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	Despite playing like crap for the Wild Things, I got signed by the Baltimore Orioles! Was not expecting that, but it is super exciting. Hopefully I play well enough to get signed for next year.

05-20-2018, 12:53 PM	#5
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	Playing in the Orioles system has been great so far. After getting signed, I played in the Dominican Summer League for 2 games and hit .500. Then I got promoted to the Aberdeen Ironbirds in the New York-Penn League, which is short season ball for college players. I've hit .280/.364/.533 with 5 home runs. Hopefully I can keep it up for the rest of the season and earn a contract for next year.

05-21-2018, 05:01 PM	#8
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	Spending a month in extendo was not very fun. Waking up at 7 every day to do drills and play glorified scrimmages is really boring. Plus you don't get paid, and you live off of PB&J's. It's a great bonding experience to drink cheap beer with your buddies, but I wanted a little more than that. Thankfully I got called up to Frederick, and I am ready to get some meaningful at bats.

05-22-2018, 10:10 PM	#9
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	I've spent a month in Fredrick and have only gotten into 4 games. I've done fairly well, hitting .308/.400/.308 but its only 4 games. I asked Skip what I need to do to get into more games, and he said that he'll try me out at third. Hopefully I play well, I have the arm, I just need the experience.

05-25-2018, 05:49 PM	#10
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	Well, in roughly two months I played in 12 games for Fredrick in High A, hitting .270/.341/.270. Then I got called into the managers office to hear that I got traded to the Pirates, along with Chris Owings for Trevor Cahill. Hopefully I get more playing time in the Pirates organization.

05-25-2018, 06:28 PM	#11
nymetsfan5 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 117	Well the rest of the season did not go as well as plan, but I at least played a lot more. I split time between Low and Full Season A ball, and did well. One thing that did bother me is that I did not hit a single home run last year. Hopefully I can turn that around this year. After a great spring training, the Pirates assigned me straight to the Altoona Curve, the AA team. Excited for this awesome opportunity.