Graham gave up pro career to return to Oregon State

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

There are times when Tyler Graham can’t help but think about what could have been if he turned pro last summer.

Most of the time it’s when people ask how he’s doing or what are his future plans. Graham, however, just focuses on his hamstring rehab.

The Oregon State junior outfielder was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 14th round last June. His life was at a crossroads, and it took the entire summer for him to decide what to do.

Door 1 had him signing a pro contract, seeing where the minor leagues take him.

Door 2 was to return to OSU for this season to improve his draft status while working on his business degree.

He took the latter, and it hasn’t worked out the way he planned. Injuries have kept him in the dugout most of the season.

“I was up and down if I was going to sign or not,” Graham said. “I didn’t decide until a month before I was going back to school. The Cubs left it open until the first day of school. It was a tough decision because it was a life-changing decision. There are a lot of decisions you have to weigh with people telling you what to do.”

One of the major factors in returning for Graham was the opportunity to go back to the College World Series for a second straight year. The Beavers have a strong nucleus of players, and are ranked No. 5 in the country by Baseball American and USA Today.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder from Great Falls, Mont., expected to be the leader of the team. Coach Pat Casey planned for him to hit leadoff and play center field every day. Baseball America named him the Pacific-10 Conference’s fastest runner, best base runner and best defensive outfielder.

“You don’t get to do what we did last year too many times,” Graham said. “And to do it twice is something special and I didn’t really want to pass up. If I didn’t think we would have the success we had last year this year, I probably wouldn’t have come back. I think coming back was the best decision, and I still think it was the best decision if I didn’t get hurt.”

While Graham debated if he should join the Cubs organization, he went to Colorado to train all summer. He didn’t even play in a summer league.

He continued the rigorous workouts up until the season, which may have wound him too tight. Two weeks before the first game of the season, the Beavers were in the indoor center running sprints.

Graham let loose and felt his right hamstring pop. He was out three weeks, missing the first weekend. After playing seven of the next eight games, it happened again. This time he was running to first base, taking him out of the lineup for five weeks.

“He’s handling it fine, but he’s frustrated as heck, like we all are,” Casey said. “He’s going to play baseball for a long time. He’s going to be a big-league player. He’s a game-changer offensively and defensively. Something really, really good is going to happen for him, and it might be in college baseball.”

Graham was on the way to recovery, starting six games but turned his ankle on a railroad track before leaving for the April 21-23 California series. Graham was walking to his car and stepped wrong.

“It hasn’t been my year for that kind of stuff,” Graham said. “It just wasn’t there for me, even from the beginning. It was really frustrating because it was the hardest I worked since I’ve been here. For something like this to happen didn’t make me happy.”

He played in the pain for five games and started Friday against New Mexico. He’s been rushing to get back on the field and it has cost him more time.

A third hamstring injury occurred; this time lower down the leg. Graham grounded a ball off the shortstop’s glove, and rounded first base. He started to take second but stopped, which caused the latest setback.

His tentative return is two weekends from now at Arizona State.

“I’m just taking it day by day, hopefully the hamstring gets better,” Graham said. “It’s another bad pull, but it was lower this time. So I don’t think it will take as long. No matter how rested you are with a hamstring there’s always a chance of doing it again. They never seem to heal fully.”

While Graham has been trying to play, his draft status has been plummeting. When healthy, he should be able to produce again. However, a recurring leg problem doesn’t impress the scouts because they can’t see him play on a regular basis.

“They know who he is,” said an area scout. “He’s probably going to get drafted again, but who knows where. You draft him and hope he heals, but his main tool is speed, and he hasn’t been able to run.”

Even though Graham has hinted about signing no matter what round he’s selected in during the June draft, he doesn’t have to and can come back one more season. Major League Baseball picks players from four-year colleges after they’ve gone through three years.

Graham missed most of the 2003 season with a shoulder injury that required surgery, and received a medical redshirt. Last year was his third season, but he has one more year of eligibility after this one.

“A lot of people asked me what I’m going to do,” Graham said. “I’m going to keep it open, and see what happens at the end of the year when the draft comes out and we’ll go from there. Right now I’m kind of undecided. Obviously, I’m not going to go as high as if I had a good year, but that’s the risk I took. I’m just hoping for the best.”

Casey said he’ll leave that decision up to Graham, but believes he’s better than a 14th round pick, and that players with eligibility remaining shouldn’t sign unless there’s no way to get better.

“The injury and not signing last year doesn’t have anything to do with what his future is going to be like,” Casey said. “There’s no money to be made until you get to the big leagues anyway. I just don’t want him second guessing himself.”

The scout has a different opinion, and that’s to start playing pro sooner than later.

“You want to go out to pro baseball as soon as you can,” he said. “That gives you a better chance to learn and make the big leagues faster. Once you are a fifth-year senior, age comes into play. And I haven’t seen very many fifth-year seniors people are hot after.”

Graham doesn’t second-guess himself, at least not publicly. Watching his teammates succeed helps ease the letdown of a season lost, but there’s been a lot thinking going on in the dugout.

He needs to be fully healed or a fourth hamstring injury could occur. At the same time he gave up being a 14th-round draft pick to play this season.

“You can’t look back and regret anything,” Graham said. “The Cubs talked about if I got injured, but you can’t say ‘what if’ because that’s the decision I made and I made my decision knowing if something happens, it happens. You just have to live with it and I don’t regret my decision.”