Devon Torrence, rated the best athlete in the system by Baseball America, is getting to Extended Spring Training sometime this week. He will finish classes at Ohio State and will then work with the Astros staff for a month prior to being assigned to one of the short season teams (most likely Greeneville). The Columbus Dispatch talked with Torrence, his agent, Joe Speed and Astros’ midwest scout, Nick Venuto.
Venuto said, “He’s a raw talent; he needs a lot of at-bats to refine that talent. But if we didn’t think he could play in the big leagues, we wouldn’t have drafted him.”
On if the two sports will continue to co-exist, Torrence states then hedges:
“I’m never going to quit either one, I don’t feel, anytime soon.”
Agent Speed says:
“I think he can do this for another year, and after that point, one of the two sports may separate themselves,” Speed said. “But I can’t look into my crystal ball and say what that’s going to be. He has a heck of a future in baseball, and he also loves being an Ohio State Buckeye.