Earlier in June, Baseball BC (baseball.bc.ca) announced that four baseball players from the province were selected in the most recent Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. Included in that number is Sooke’s own southpaw pitcher Kurtis Horne.
He was selected by the New York Mets in the 31 round (925 overall). There are up to 50 rounds. Horne was the 10th of 16 Canadians selected.
“It’s just an honour to be drafted,” said Horne, noting that the support from his team has been invaluable to helping him get this far. His supporters include his coach Doug Mathieson, his pitching coach Mary Hall, his brother Kyle and his parents.
On the unlucky day of Friday the 13th, Kurtis actually got some additional great news.
“Kurt agreed on a signing bonus and will be off to Point St. Lucie Florida to sign his contract and play pro ball for the New York Mets Gulf Coast League affiliate,” wrote his father, Rocky Horne. “The season starts next Friday night.”
That means that Kurtis will be a professionally paid ball player.
“Dream come true,” proudly reported Rocky. “Now the hard work continues (and begins).”
“I couldn’t have done it without all of them,” Kurtis reflected.
Kurtis currently plays for Langley Blaze, a strategic move to increase his exposure and his experience.
“I’d say it worked really well for me,” he observed.
The MLB Draft is the primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges and other amateur baseball clubs to its team. Once a player is drafted, they can be signed up by the team that drafted them. According to Wikipedia, “When a team selects a player, the team receives exclusive rights to sign that player to a contract, and no other team in the league may sign the player.”
Kurtis has been both drafted and signed.
Kurtis Horne graduated from EMCS at this year’s June 15 ceremony. He has been playing baseball since he was 12 years old, and it looks like he has many more years ahead of him.