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.

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Devon Torrence remains interested in playing baseball for a Houston Astros farm team and football for Ohio State, but he might be getting concerned that he’s missing a lot of baseball without seeing a lot of playing time as an OSU receiver.

Torrence had four catches for 31 yards in seven games last season — not bad for a true freshman who didn’t switch from defensive back until fall practice. But heading into spring practice, Torrence likely is behind Brian Robiskie, Brian Hartline, Dane Sanzenbacher and Ray Small on the depth chart, so he may be getting antsy.

Torrence played with the Astros’ Greeneville, Tenn., rookie-league club last summer before reporting to OSU’s fall camp. He hoped to make at least a brief appearance in spring training this month, but the combination of schoolwork and spring practice is making it difficult.

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“It’s kind of a blur, everything went so fast,” said Torrence, a true freshman receiver who caught four passes for 31 yards in seven games this season. “I was hitting baseballs, now I’m trying to catch passes. I was at corner, then went to receiver. It’s been fun, though. I had to learn a lot of stuff this year, that’s for sure.”

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“It’s been a humbling experience,” he said. “When I got to (Greeneville), I was striking out like crazy. … Then I get here and I’m used to scoring, and I don’t score a touchdown all year. I’m just taking it stride-for-stride.