In the wake of one former Heisman Trophy winner pursuing a possible career in baseball, another former Heisman Trophy winner has hinted baseball may not be entirely out of the picture for him. Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston was asked about a potential future in baseball by Dan Patrick, and the former two-sport college athlete did not say “no.”
“I guess I gotta say that right now,” Winston said when asked about baseball. “But I love baseball so much. The highlight of my year was being able to throw the first pitch out at a Yankees-Rays game. So that was pretty good for me.”
Let’s be clear here for a brief moment though. While Winston may still love baseball, the odds he ditches football or splits time between the football field and baseball diamond are virtually non-existent. That’s by design. As noted by Pro Football Talk, Winston’s contract wiht Tampa Bay includes a no-baseball clause. And with his brief time in the NFL has offered some promise for his football-playing career, it looks unlikely Winston will fizzle out of the league and be left having to pick baseball back up.
It is also worth noting Winston and Tebow as potential baseball prospects would likely be much different. Winston played well at the college level for a well-respected baseball program at Florida State. As a pitcher, Winston was one of the better relief pitching prospects to be found in the NCAA. Tebow hasn’t played baseball since high school, and he is also older than Winston. If Winston were to try his hand at baseball, many would suspect he would have a far better shot at making it than Tebow. But hey, Tebow still got a contract out of this attempt, so that’s certainly something.
