RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Taking Names and Keeping Score
Such is the case with former Thomasville High School teammates Corwin Malone and Nick McCurdy. The two of them found themselves on the same path almost a decade ago when as students at Thomasville High School they became teammates on the football and baseball teams. They both wore the maroon and gray together for the Tigers on the gridiron in the falls of 1996 and 1997 and on the baseball diamond in springs of 1997 and1998. The paths of the two changed after the spring of 1998 and the graduation of McCurdy from high school. Malone who was a junior in 1998 continued to play both sports for Thomasville High School the next year while McCurdy, who had accepted a baseball scholarship from Jefferson Davis Community College after high school, headed to Brewton to continue his education and play baseball for the Warhawks.
Malone whose play on the football field brought scholarship offers from numerous colleges decided to accept the offer of Coach Watson Brown at UAB and signed a letter of intent with the Blazers in February of 1999. Little did he know at the time that a fork lay ahead in the road on which he was traveling. The fork came at the end of his high school baseball season in 1999 when the Chicago White Sox drafted him in the ninth round of the annual Amateur Draft and literally offered him a deal he couldn't refuse. During that same period McCurdy, who had attracted the attention of numerous four year schools as well as some professional teams, found himself at a fork in the road as well. Having been offered scholarships by a number of colleges including several Division I programs he chose to continue his education and baseball career at Oklahoma State University. That same spring the Colorado Rockies drafted him in the annual Amateur Baseball draft further complicating his decision.
Malone meanwhile has seen the ups and downs of professional baseball having gone from being touted as one of the top six prospects in the White Sox organization back in 2002 to missing part of the 2003 season and all of the 2004 season with Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Since that time he has spent both the 2005 and 2006 seasons at AA Birmingham working his way back from the injury and re establishing himself as a top prospect in the organization.
It all started this fall when they were both selected to participate in their individual organizations’ fall instructional league in Arizona. There they saw each other frequently and actually were competing against each other. From there they both were selected to travel to South America to play winter ball. As fate would have it, they wound up on the Tiburones De LaGuiara team in Caracas, Venezuela together. There as members of the Tiburones (Sharks) pitching staff they are being managed by a coach out of the Baltimore Oriole organization and work directly under a pitching coach from the Chicago White Sox organization. The team they are playing for is currently 1/2 game behind the team leading the wild card race for a birth in the championship series. Both of them are working out of the bullpen primarily, with Malone being pressed into a starting role when needed. This is a new experience for McCurdy, with this being his first time to play winter ball, but it is the second time around for Malone who played for the same team in Venezuela last winter. They both agree it has been a good experience playing there where baseball is taken very seriously and the crowds are large and very enthusiastic. Each of them believes the experience they have gotten there will also help them in their respective careers. And finally they agree it has been great being teammates again even if it is only for a short time.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
