Former West Virginia quarterback Pat White has decided to give up his professional baseball career after playing a few months in the Kansas City Royals organization. White signed with Kansas City in September and played in the Arizona Instructional League in the fall. He was expected to play in the minors this year, but his agent informed the club that White would not be continuing his baseball career, making it his second perceived professional failure in two years.
White, who led West Virginia to four straight bowl wins, threw for over 6,000 yards and 56 touchdowns while rushing for over 5,000 yards and 47 career touchdowns in college. Several draft analysts believed he was destined for greatness and so did the Miami Dolphins who made him a second-round pick in 2009. White unfortunately did not develop as they had hoped, and the Dolphins released him after one season.
After his release, White decided to pursue a career in professional baseball but he has already given it up. There’s no word on his next move but one has to figure he’ll try a professional football career again, possibly with another like like the UFL or CFL. White is just too talented of an athlete to be done with sports and too close to recent success to give it up.
And if you think his baseball career was just a gimmick, he actually hit .487 and slugged .974 in high school and was drafted in the second round in 2004 by the Angels. The Angels drafted him again in 2007, the Reds took him in 2008, and the Yankees drafted his rights in 2009. If that many teams still had interest in him, it’s a pretty good sign he had some talent. The question is if we’ll ever see it develop professionally.
