By JOSH EZZELL, Post Sports Editor

It is safe to say that baseball is alive in well in Murfreesboro.

All one has to do is look at the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft in which the Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected former Blackman standout David Price with the first pick following a stellar collegiate career at Vanderbilt.

Price, however, isn’t the only Murfreesboro native trying to make his way to the big leagues. Two former Oakland standouts and a former Middle Tennessee Christian School pitcher are in the minor leagues. A former Riverdale standout played in he minors last season but decided not to return in 2008.

“They’ve all gotten opportunities,” said Oakland head coach Mack Hawks, who coached former Patriot standouts Brennan King and Jeremy Slayden, both of whom are in the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization.

“It’s just a matter of being in the right organization,” Hawks added. “You’ve got to get a break, and it’s tough.”

King, a third baseman who was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second round of the 1999 draft after leading Oakland to the state title, was taken by Kansas City in 2003 in the Rule V Draft. He signed a free-agent deal with Philadelphia in 2005.

Slayden has been drafted three times. The Padres took him in the 20th round of the 2001 draft following his senior year of high school. Three years later, the Oakland A’s took the Georgia Tech standout in the 18th round. Philadelphia selected him in the eighth round of 2005 draft, and he signed a contract.

Cleveland took former MTCS pitcher Jim Ed Warden in the sixth round of the 2001 draft after his collegiate career at Tennessee Tech. He signed with the Washington Nationals as a free agent following the 2007 season.

Former Riverdale standout Wayne Kendrick signed a free-agent deal with the Cincinnati Reds in 2007, playing in the Rookie League and Class A before deciding to pursue other interests in 2008.

THE LONG ROAD
Baseball is different than football and baseball. When a major-league baseball team picks a player in the draft that athlete doesn’t usually immediately go to the big show.

Usually the player has to work his way through the minor leagues. Sometimes it can take a while for a player to even get promoted to a higher class in the minors.

King, for example, has paid his dues in the minor leagues. The former Oakland Patriot, who’s entering his 10th season in professional baseball, has battled multiple injuries — a pulled oblique and a shattered thumb are among his ailments — in his quest to play at the highest level.

“It’s been up and down,” said King, whose father, Randy King, is the boys’ basketball coach at Oakland High School. “It’s kind of a grind. My biggest thing is injuries.”

King has a career .267 average in the minor leagues with his best season coming in 2005 when he hit .285 with Wichita — a Kansas City Royals affiliate — of the Texas League in Class AA. He has 64 home runs and 404 RBIs to go with 166 doubles, 895 hits and 12 triples.

“I didn’t know out of high school how hard it was,” said King, who played six seasons in the Dodgers’ organization before moving to the Royals’ organization for one year. “The biggest thing is getting a break.”

King played for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2006 and Class AAA Ottawa of the International League in 2007. He hit .277 with 10 home runs and 59 RBIs last year in Canada.

“When you’re in AAA you’re just an injury away,” King said.

WARDEN GOES SIDEARM
Like King, Warden has paid many dues in pursuit of living his dream. The former MTCS Cougar, who stands 6-foot-7, had rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder in 2002, and it took seven months for him to recover.

Warden reached a crossroad in 2005. Cleveland didn’t think he was progressing, and coaches wanted him to throw sidearm instead of overhand. The move wasn’t a problem for Warden, who threw sidearm in high school.

“If I wouldn’t have done that I’d probably be back in Murfreesboro working for my mom,” Warden said. “It just seemed to make baseball a lot easier.”

The move helped.

From 2002-06 he bounced between Class A and Class AA. In 2006 he got promoted to Class AAA and pitched 23.1 innings for Buffalo of the International League.

Warden, who’s entering his eighth season in the minors, has a 23-29 record with a 4.09 ERA. He has 419 strikeouts with 240 walks. He’s optimistic about this season, which will be his first in the Nationals’ organization.

“I’ve been through a lot,” Warden said. “I’ve gone on six-, seven-hour bus rides with no air conditioning. I’m 6-7 and had to sit next to a 6-3 catcher on a seven-hour bus ride. You couldn’t fit a sheet of paper between us.”

Nevertheless, Warden is happy with the way his career has gone.

“I wouldn’t change any of it,” he said. “I’ve got lots of stories to tell family and friends.”

WORKING HIS WAY UP THE LADDER
Slayden has shown the ability to be a force in the lineup during his collegiate days and minor-league career.

At Georgia Tech he set a school freshman record for most home runs in a season with 18 en route to being named first-team Freshman All-American by Baseball America. He was the only player to appear in every game. He hit .348 and was named to the all-tournament team for the NCAA Atlanta Regional.
He was named preseason second-team All-American entering his sophomore campaign in which he hit .294 with eight home runs and 40 RBIs.

As a junior the injury bug bit the former Oakland standout. He played in only nine games before season-ending shoulder surgery shelved him. He received a medical redshirt and returned in 2005.

“I had an injury-riddled college career,” said Slayden, who was a three-time all-state performer at Oakland and was named Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year in 2001.

“It makes it hard, but sometimes you play better when you’re hurt,” Slayden added. “You tend to concentrate more. It’s a two-sided argument.”

Slayden enjoyed a solid season in 2005, hitting .352 — a collegiate high — with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs.

He hit .268 in only 54 games for Class A Batavia in 2005 with nine home runs and 36 RBIs. He hit .310 with Class A Lakewood in 2006 and enjoyed a solid season in 2007 with a .287 average en route to helping Class A Clearwater win the Florida State League title. He showed he can hit for power by winning the Florida State League All-Star Home Run Derby.

“I expect to be in AA this year,” Slayden said. “Some personnel people with the Phillies told me they expect me to be there. I’m really excited about getting (to Florida) for spring training. I’m really excited about the opportunity.”


FAR FROM HOME
Kendrick is used to beating the odds. After a solid career at Riverdale he was told that he’s too small — he’s 5 foot 6 and weighs 160 pounds — to play major college baseball. Kendrick, however, didn’t get discouraged.

He proved that he’s capable of playing college baseball by leading MTSU in batting average, triples, doubles, hits and on-base percentage in 2007 en route to being named first-team all-Sun Belt.
Kendrick hit .250 in only 31 games last season following the conclusion of his collegiate career. He hit 246 in Billings, Mont., in the Rookie League. He improved in Class A Sarasota, hitting .261 with a .609 on-base percentage.

“It was very different,” Kendrick said of playing in the minors. “We did a lot of traveling. It wasn’t as bad in Florida, but we had some long trips when I was in Billings. I remember going on a 12-hour bus ride to Utah for a game.”

Kendrick lived with a host family in Montana and said getting around could be tough.
“We had a 1982 green truck,” Kendrick said. “Some people don’t have cars. I was lucky.”

HIGH-PRICE PLAYER
Some players dominate in high school but don’t enjoy equal success in college.

Price isn’t one of those players.

He went 11-1 with a 2.63 ERA as a junior, leading Vanderbilt to a 54-13 record and an SEC title. He was named Collegiate Baseball’s National co-Player of the Year and also won the SEC Male Athlete of the Year award.

In his three years at Vanderbilt he went 22-10 with a 3.10 ERA and a school-record 441 strikeouts. He led the USA baseball team to a gold medal in the World University Games with a 5-1 record and 0.20 ERA.

The Devil Rays rewarded the left-handed pitcher with a six-year deal that includes a $5.6 million signing bonus and $8.5 million in guaranteed money.

“I’m really happy,” Price said after being drafted by the Devil Rays. “I want to get in there and get to work.”

Everybody wants to work — in the majors.