Cool story of a talented athlete making some really good money, still getting to consider a different sport, and now starting to settle on doing one thing particularly well is brought to you by the last MLB draft without bonus caps.

I'm guessing there's even more of a causal link than the article suggests between Garrett explicitly choosing baseball and his placement on the 40-man roster, though it'd have been cool if they left him off. He's not a Twin, so I don't really care where he lands and somebody was definitely going to take a Rule 5 chance on a lefty sitting mid-90s.

In any event, he'll get paid more on the 40-man and the patience the Reds have shown so far indicate they'll be a good spot for him to keep developing. This kind of stuff may get more and more rare with the hard bonus pool limits, as it's harder to lure away a tough commitment.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/reds-garrett-commit/

Reds, Garrett Commit To Each Other
December 7, 2014 by C. Trent Rosecrans

CINCINNATI—The Reds have always believed that lefthander Amir Garrett had a bright future in baseball, it just took a while for the 6-foot-5 Garrett to commit.

Despite signing a $1 million bonus after the Reds took him in the 22nd round of the 2011 draft, Garrett continued his flirtation with basketball.

It wasn’t unreasonable as Garrett was a top-100 recruit in the 2011 high school basketball class and the California native went to St. John’s to play basketball in the Big East.

Garrett played in 22 games for the Red Storm as a freshman, but decided to transfer after his sophomore year, eventually winding up at Cal State Northridge. Although he enrolled at CSUN and attended classes there, he never played for Reggie Theus, sitting out a year after transferring. Despite the possibility of playing for the Matadors, Garrett attended his first spring for the Reds this year, but still kept the basketball door open.

It wasn’t until Aug. 8 that Garrett took to Twitter to make a public declaration of his decision to focus solely on baseball.

In his first start as a one-sport athlete, Garrett threw seven scoreless for the Dayton Dragons of the Midwest League, allowing three hits and a walk, while striking out a season-high 12 batters.

Garrett finished the season 7-8, 3.64 in 27 starts, striking out 127 and walking 51 in 133 1/3 innings. The Reds added him to their 40-man roster, showing their commitment.

It’s easy to see why: he’s long, lefthanded, has a fresh arm that can reach the upper 90s, but still pitch comfortably in the 91-95 mph range. He has a slider that’s improving, as well as a changeup.

“It really helped his progress when he committed solely to baseball,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. “He’s a got a great arm. He just hasn’t pitched that much. I think he can definitely help us down the line.”

RED HOTS

• The Reds also added OF Kyle Waldrop to the 40-man roster. Waldrop hit .338/.385/.516 with 14 home runs and 67 RBI between high Class A Bakersfield and Double-A Pensacola. He played in one more game in Pensacola, but still hit eight of his 14 homers for the Blue Wahoos. He hit .300/.325/.463 with two homers and 14 RBI in 80 at-bats in the Arizona Fall League.

• Bill Bavasi, the Reds’ vice president of scouting, player development and international operations, has left the team to become the director of the MLB scouting bureau. Former Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers will take over as the player personnel part of Bavasi’s duties.

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"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad