Buckwalter's a Blue Jay
- 12 June 2007
Ross Buckwalter always dreamed of playing professional baseball.
As the younger brother of Matt Buckwalter, a talented pitcher in his own right who once played in the prestigious American Legion East-West Game, the younger Buckwalter soaked in everything he could about the game and followed in his big brother's footsteps.
After pitching Ephrata High School to the Lancaster-Lebanon League title in 2003, Ross went on to a successful collegiate career at Shippensburg University.
An outstanding senior year at Ship opened the eyes of a few Major League scouts. And this past Friday, his life-long dream was fulfilled.
Buckwalter's eyes were glued to the internet last Friday, waiting and certainly hoping to see his name appear as the second day of Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft was unfolding.
Finally, a little after 3 p.m., there it was.
Reached at his home shortly after his selection, Buckwalter said he was relieved and certainly thrilled to reach his life-long dream.
"This is something I've waited for my whole life," he said. "Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a (professional baseball player) and I'm definitely pretty pumped right about now."
The righthander said he felt he had a good shot to be drafted, especially after wowing scouts at a pre-draft workout at the Roger's Centre (formerly SkyDome) in Toronto last week.
At that workout, Buckwalter faced seven batters and recorded three strikeouts and allowed just one hit.
That was enough to convince him, and local Blue Jays' scout Tom Byrnes, that he should here his name come draft day.
"Tom Byrnes said (after the workout) that I should get drafted, but then he said, 'Hopefully they (Blue Jays scouts at the workout) like you as much as I do.'"
In addition to Toronto, Buckwalter said the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles also showed some interest prior to the draft after seeing him pitch during Shippensburg's Spring trip to Florida. But he felt it would be Toronto all along.
"I know Tom Byrnes has been following me for a while and I knew he liked me," Buckwalter said. "Then after my workout, I was pretty confident it was going to be (Toronto)."
This past Spring at Shippensburg, Buckwalter went 5-3 with a 2.85 ERA to help the Red Raiders win the PSAC title. He led the PSAC in innings pitched with 85.1 and games started (12) while throwing five complete games and striking out 60 batters.
His performance earned him Honorable Mention from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) for the North Atlantic Region.
Buckwalter earned his first career all-region selection after also earning his first career all-conference honor in being named to the All-PSAC Western Division Second Team.
The 22-year-old righthander, who graduated from Shippensburg in May with a degree in criminal justice, reported to the Blue Jays Florida headquarters in Dunedin on Monday. Reached Tuesday night by phone, he said he was told he'll find out Saturday where he'll begin his pro career.
Most likely, he'll report to either the Class A Auburn (NY) Doubledays or remain in Dunedin to play for the Gulf Coast Blue Jays of the Gulf Coast Rookie League.
Either way, he'll be on his way.
"Certainly I'd rather start at Auburn because that's Class A, but if I have to stay in Florida, that's not too shabby either."
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