Many professional baseball players grow up playing the game their entire lives. They start in Little League, play through junior high and high school, then either get drafted and begin a professional career or continue to play in college.
Cameron Conner, general studies junior, took a less traditional path to a professional baseball career, but found a career nonetheless. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals with the 599th overall pick in the 2010 Major League Baseball first-year player draft on June 8.
The pick made Conner the first IUS baseball player to be drafted into the major leagues.
“It was overwhelming,” Conner said. “It was the longest day of my life.”
Conner grew up in Frankfort, Ky. Even though he started playing baseball at a young age, he gave up on the sport when he reached high school to focus on basketball. In the short-term, that change paid off when it earned Conner a basketball scholarship to Kentucky State University in the fall 2006.
In the summer 2008, Conner said he became disenchanted with basketball after a coaching change at KSU. He rediscovered baseball.
“I saw that as a sign that let me know it was time to get back to baseball,” Conner said. “I wasn’t having fun anymore. I found my love of the game of baseball again.”
Conner said he also got encouragement from his friend, Ben Revere, who told him he shouldn’t let his baseball talent go to waste. Revere and Conner played against each other in high school, and Revere was drafted by the Minnesota Twins after he graduated high school in 2007.
Conner played baseball at KSU in the spring 2009 and said he felt like he had a talent for the game.
Conner’s younger brother, Ryan, was a senior in high school and was a baseball prospect himself, garnering attention from several universities, including IU Southeast. While working out for the coaches at IU Southeast, Ryan mentioned that he had an older brother who was interested in trying out for the team.
The IUS coaches agreed to a tryout for Conner and he made a good impression, both with his personality and ability.
“He had an attitude that was really coachable,” Ben Reel, IUS head baseball coach, said. “The tools were there. We just had to build off that.”
For his part, Conner said he told his coaches he wanted to play baseball professionally and was willing to work as hard as he could to realize that goal.
Conner first played games in front of the IUS coaches during summer baseball and the time spent away from baseball was evident.
“My first impression was, ‘This kid has a lot of work to do before contributing to our team,’” Andrew Stanley, IUS assistant and outfield coach, said. “He looked rusty.”
In his first game for IU Southeast, playing center field, Conner went 1-2 with a pair of walks, RBIs and stolen bases and a run scored.
Not every subsequent game was so successful, but his coaches said they quickly began to realize Conner’s potential.
“Just a few weeks into the season he started to eliminate the small mistakes,” Stanley said. “Every time he got on base, we scored runs.”
Incredible speed is what helped Conner get on base and score runs, the latter in large part because of his ability to steal bases and get into scoring position for the hitters behind him. Conner stole 44 bases, nearly twice as many as his closest teammate, and was caught stealing only four times in the 2010 season.
About a month into the season, major league scouts began attending Grenadier games to scout Conner. His coaches said they were not surprised by the attention.
“That’s when I knew I had a shot,” Conner said.
Conner finished the season batting .339, with 72 runs scored, 28 RBIs and five home runs.
Conner said he was alone in his New Albany watching the draft live when his name was announced. He said he immediately began getting phone calls from his friends and family congratulating him.
A few minutes after the announcement, Conner said he got a phone call from Kansas City scout, Jason Bryans, welcoming him into the Royals’ organization.
“He called and told me, ‘Congratulations, Cam.. How does it feel to be a Kansas City Royal?’” Conner said. “He was just as excited as I was.”
Conner went home to be with his parents, and, two days later, Bryans arrived by car from Windsor, Ontario. Conner signed his contract and Bryans informed him of the next steps in the process.
Within days, Conner was on a plane to Arizona, where he would play in the Rookie Arizona League for the Surprise Royals of Surprise, Ariz.
“I didn’t expect it to happen so fast,” Conner said.
Conner said the there has been an adjustment period since moving to Arizona, mostly to the local scenery.
“The only grass I see is on the baseball field, and, the first time I saw a cactus, I knew I was far from home,” Conner said.
Conner is living in a hotel provided by the Royals’ organization with one roommate, Darian Sandford of St. Louis.
Conner is currently the starting center fielder and leadoff man for the Surprise Royals. While happy with his current level of success, Conner said he is by no means fully satisfied.
“My goal is to finish up the season here on a positive note and then go to spring training and hopefully make the A roster,” Conner said.
By DERRICK HOLDRIDGE
Sports Editor
dvholdri@umail.iu.edu