Though the football thing seems to be working out for him at the moment, Russell Wilson still has options.
The Texas Rangers chose the Seahawks quarterback in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft this morning, spending $12,000 to get his rights away from the Rockies organization for a little attention and a good example.
“From a baseball standpoint, we feel like if he ever decided he wanted to come back to play again that he’d be a guy we’d want in our system,” Rangers assistant general manager A.J. Preller said, via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “The biggest thing that intrigued us on Russell from afar is the makeup, the way he goes about his business, the professionalism, the competitor, the message we try to preach throughout our organization, for us to at least have that as part of our organization.
“At the end of the day, he obviously has a lot bigger things that he’s working on right now, and we don’t want to interrupt that aspect of it. But if at some point down the road he decides he wants to do baseball again, we decided it would be a positive to have him with us.”
Preller said they don’t expect him to give up his football career, and haven’t had any contact with him.
Wilson was a fourth-round pick in the baseball draft in 2010, and hit .238 in parts of two minor league seasons.
He’s been slightly more successful in football.