From Johnny Football to Johnny Baseball as the San Diego Padres drafted Johnny Manziel on Saturday in the 28th round with the 837th pick.
Manziel became the first freshman to win the Heisman trophy as the star quarterback for Texas A&M. Manziel was also listed as a shortstop, but he never played for the Aggies as he focused on football. He was selected by the Cleveland Browns in this year’s NFL draft with the 22nd pick.
When asked why Manziel was selected Padres general manager Josh Byrnes said, ”It was kind of, ‘Why not.”
“He certainly loves baseball,” Byrnes said. “We kind of talked about it at that time, ‘Do you want us to draft you?’ He said, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’”
Why in the 28th round?
“We really liked our 27th-rounder,” Byrnes said.
Asked the odds of signing Manziel, Byrnes, a big football fan, just smiled.
It is unlikely Manziel will ever play, as no 837th pick in the June draft has ever played in an MLB game, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Manziel took to his Twitter account to express his excitement.
Big thank you to the @Padres and @padresmikedee for selecting me in the MLB draft. What a great day! pic.twitter.com/MaTKVZ5JqY
— Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) June 7, 2014
Mike Dee, the Padres’ president and CEO, tweeted:
Best athlete on the board… #JohnnyBaseball pic.twitter.com/yqOYmgLPr2
— Mike Dee (@PadresMikeDee) June 7, 2014
– Shaina Auxilly (@Shay_Marie)
