Patrick Mahomes, the star QB of the Kansas City Chiefs has quickly become the face of the NFL. However, there was a time when he was on the trajectory of becoming a promising MLB pitcher. In fact, a career in football was not really on the cards for the two-time Super Bowl winner at one point in time. Inspired by his father, who professionally played baseball for 11 years, Patrick was always seen running around stadiums dressed in team’s gear his father was playing for at the time.
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When Patrick went to Texas Tech, he played as the team’s starting signal-caller and also showcased his talent on the baseball field. His naturally athletic self was his main strength, which eventually helped him in landing a draft by one of the MLB franchises.
Patrick Mahomes turned down a lucrative deal from this MLB team
When the 2x Super Bowl champion was 18 years old, he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 37th round of the 2014 MLB draft. Even though the Tigers took a flyer on Mahomes, he eventually turned them down in order to pursue his dreams of being a football quarterback.
Tim Grieve, who scouted Mahomes and played a huge role in the Tigers’ decision to draft him, had said, “With Patrick, it was as simple as ‘here’s a kid who looks like he’s going to play football BUT…let’s be that team that started to build the relationship so that if he wants to play baseball 2-4 years down the road, we’ve got our foot in the door.”
As claimed by Grieve on Fansided, if Patrick Mahomes had solely focused on baseball, he could have been a third- or fourth-round prospect, but as everyone knows, he had other plans. Considering the positive reviews he had to his name, Mahomes’ baseball deal could have been a pretty good one.
However, he was absolutely clear about what he was doing and what his potential was as a footballer. So he turned the deal down and decided to put all his focus on football. Hence, we can say that the young Mahomes, who is now worth a whopping $50 million, decided not to fall for hoopla and coins and instead focused on being the next big thing in the NFL.
How was Mahomes’ short-lived baseball career?
During his time at Whitehouse High School in 2014, Mahomes demonstrated his talent as a pitcher, throwing a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts and reportedly throwing as fast as 93mph, according to ESPN. It seemed that he was on track to follow in his father’s footsteps and pursue a career in Major League Baseball. However, when he joined college, his career took another turn.
After turning down the previously mentioned deal from the Tigers, he gave more time to football but still found time to play baseball. Mahomes made a single appearance as a freshman pitcher for his college team, although it wasn’t a successful one. ESPN reported that he threw just 15 pitches before being replaced during the game, indicating that it wasn’t one of his noteworthy accomplishments in sports.
