Friday, February 10, 2012

Mitch Mustain signs with the White Sox

Former USC and Arkansas quarterback, Mitch Mustain, was once a five star high school prospect. Mustain was highly thought of and was handed the reins to the Arkansas kingdom for a eight games. His removal from the starting job there led to him transferring to USC.

Fast forward to 2012 and Mustain is trying out a different avenue in the world of professional sports. He's going back to baseball. After the college stints at USC and Arkansas, and a brief foray in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Georgia Force in the Arena Football League, the next chapter in Mustain's life will be him trying to latch on with the Chicago White Sox.

Mustain signed a minor league deal with the White Sox as a pitcher. The last time he pitched was in high school back in 2004. Good thing Mustain had a connection in the White Sox organization. A friend who plays in the White Sox system contacted a scout to watch Mustain's throwing session at the University of Arkansas.


“I didn’t think it was going to happen,” he said.


“He hit me up on a Friday and said the scout could be here the next Friday,” Mustain said. “So I went out on Tuesday and played long toss to stretch out my arm.”


“I was hitting my spots and my curve ball was on,” he said. “I’m hoping to eventually get to 94 or 95 [miles per hour],”. I’m excited to see where it goes.”


Not many have been able to make the transition from one sport to the other with such a long layoff. I'm pretty sure Mustain will be beating the bushes for a while he fine tunes his arm and gets his location down. There will be plenty that will want to get their licks in on him while he's still trying to get his feet under him in a different sport.