Manatee’s Sandberg Picks Pros Over College

Football and baseball, or stick to baseball exclusively while making an overabundance of money.

That’s the decision that graduating Manatee quarterback Cord Sandberg had to make yesterday right before he signed his Major League Baseball contract. Sandberg, a center fielder for the school’s baseball team, was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the third round as the 89th overall pick in this year’s Major League Baseball Draft on Friday.

Sandberg, who was slated to attend Mississippi State as a football and baseball player, will be signing with the Phillies, according to Ryan Bass of Bright House Network. Sandberg agreed to a $775,000 signing bonus, $181,600 more than his pick’s slot value of $593,400. The Phillies will also pay him for what would have been a four-year scholarship at Mississippi State, according to Bass.

Sandberg heads to Philadelphia next week to perform a physical with team doctors and will then, given that team doctors clear him, report to the franchise’s Gulf Coast League team in Clearwater, Florida.

From the Bright House Network article:

“I said, let’s go for it,” Sandberg said. “I’m ready to put some money in the bank and start playing professional baseball. I’m happy with how it ended up.

Sandberg said he was concerned after he didn’t get selected in the opening rounds. He heard from the Phillies, as well as a number of other teams, during the opening night, but they decided to go in a different direction. He felt his pledge to Mississippi State, ultimately, scared some teams away.