Like all sports, the MLB Draft is a crapshoot. Some players selected first overall never pan out. As you can imagine, if not even the top picks reach the big leagues, the same is true for all the prospects selected after them.
The Texas Rangers are no stranger to this, and the same is true for the other 29 MLB teams. Though now, one of their former first-round picks is switching sports from baseball to college football.
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Former Texas Rangers baseball player Bubba Thompson switches to college football
According to Creg Stephenson of Alabama.com, former MLB outfielder Bubba Thompson is trading in his baseball career for a chance to play college football. For most athletes, this wouldn’t be a big story, but Thompson will already be 27 years old before the season kicks off.
Yet, after the Texas Rangers selected Thompson with the 26th overall pick in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft, he ranked as the 48th-best prospect in baseball according to Baseball Prospectus. Unfortunately, he didn’t live up to his potential.
Thompson made his MLB debut five years later and played in 55 games for the Rangers. But he’d play in just 54 more across the next two seasons. Now, he’s set to play college football at South Alabama as a walk-on instead.
While the move is noteworthy, it’s not out of left field. Thompson was regarded as a three-star football recruit back in high school, and he even received offers to play at the University of Tennessee and the University of Mississippi. Now, he’ll get to see if he can have more success playing college football instead.
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