Over the weekend Mets outfield prospect Brad Marquez suffered a “major” knee injury while playing football for Texas Tech during their upset over West Virginia. The injury was initially described as “major”, which got some thinking that it was an ACL tear, but yesterday Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tubberville described the injury as “other small damage in there”. An ACL injury likely would have kept Marquez from playing baseball in the minors this summer, but Tubberville “it won’t be as long a recovery for Bradley”, comparing him to a teammate that broke his foot. Marquez tweeted that he is done for the season, meaning the football season, but since this turned out to not be an ACL injury there is nothing to indicate at this time that the injury will keep him from playing baseball this summer, most likely in either Kingsport or Brooklyn. There have been rumors lately that Marquez was contemplating quitting football altogether and focusing 100% on baseball, and this injury may push him further toward making that decision.
Marquez was picked in the 11th round of the 2011 draft. He signed with the Mets at the deadline with the Mets agreeing to let him play football at Texas Tech and spend his summers in the minors. Marquez fought through injuries this past summer and only managed 30 at bats while playing for Kingsport, hitting .267. Before his injury, Marquez had 16 catches for 172 yards as a wide receiver at Texas Tech this season. As a true freshman a year ago Marquez played the whole season and caught 25 passes for 240 yards with one touchdown receiving and one touchdown rushing.
Heading into the 2012 season, I personally ranked Marquez as the 49th top prospect in the Mets system, before he had even played a professional game. He is not among my top 50 heading into next season, mostly because of a lack of at bats in Kingsport this past season and concern over whether or not he would ever commit to baseball and how old he would be when he did. That being said, Marquez may be the best pure athlete in the entire organization, eclipsing the likes of Jordany Valdespin and Juan Lagares, and is likely the fastest player in the organization as well. Whether or not he can hit enough to make it to the big leagues remains to be seen, but he definitely has the potential to play centerfield at the big league level, which will push up his value and prospect standing, especially if he decides to play baseball full time.
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10 comments
TX
10/16/2012-10:02am at 10:02 am (UTC -4)
Does he have a higher ceiling as a football player or a baseball player? What position does he play again? Maybe this knee injury will guide him towards the round ball vs the oblong.
srt
10/16/2012-10:30am at 10:30 am (UTC -4)
Does he have a higher ceiling as a football player or a baseball player?
I was going to ask the same thing.
I’m kind of surprised any organization gives the O.K. to play another professional sport, once they sign him and spend money on the pick.
TRS86
10/16/2012-10:30am at 10:30 am (UTC -4)
Well if anything I agree you can function in baseball with bad knees much more than you can in football as a reciever.
Bryan
10/16/2012-10:49am at 10:49 am (UTC -4)
He plays wide receiver in football. I haven’t seen too much of him in football, but he has blazing speed; however, he is not quite 6 feet tall, and at wide receiver in the NFL that’s something that you’ll have to overcome, and there are a ton of 6 footish speedsters in college football, which may be why he might be leaning more towards baseball.
As for MLB teams allowing guys to play other sports. Jeff Smargija (sp) played football at Notre Dame and is now pitching for the Cubs. Ruseell Wilson played a few years of minor league baseball and is now a starting QB in the NFL. Villanova had a great QB that helped them win a FCS national championship who spent his summer playing baseball (and still does, I believe). So, it’s far from unprecedented. Of course, it’s tough to make it in either sport, especially when you’re not 100% committed.
Stick
10/16/2012-2:54pm at 2:54 pm (UTC -4)
makes sense for a team to do it when the other optin is the guy just plays FB full time. Plus they usually get a lower bonus than if they were committing to baseball I think,
I imagine teams hope that the guy gives up the other sport pretty quickly otherwise odds are they have no chance of making an impact. Unless you are Bo Jackson
wanny
10/16/2012-3:39pm at 3:39 pm (UTC -4)
josh booty, deion sanders (obviously), drew henson, etc. happens all the time. not a bad risk in the 11th round — take a guy with upside that late every time even with the risk he may play football.
TX
10/16/2012-3:46pm at 3:46 pm (UTC -4)
Bo Jackson!!!
gategem
10/16/2012-6:14pm at 6:14 pm (UTC -4)
Bo Jackson suffered a hip injury playing football that ended both careers. Before the injury he excelled at both sports. Kirk Gibson also excelled at both sports. Had he stayed with football he would have been an awesome tight end.
TX
10/16/2012-6:21pm at 6:21 pm (UTC -4)
the guy that tackled Bo graduated from my high school. not much of anything to be noted about.
I think Bo was probably the most exciting athlete ever. I can only imagine what his career would have been like sans that hip injury.
amazin_jessep
10/16/2012-12:53pm at 12:53 pm (UTC -4)
On the plus side I had Tech plus the 5.5