Crawford, Schutz sign contracts

Two more members of the IU baseball team have begun professional sports careers.
Junior outfielders Evan Crawford and Kipp Schutz elected to sign last week with the San Francisco Giants and Baltimore Orioles, respectively, ending on their IU careers and heading to the Minor Leagues.

They join former IU pitcher Eric Arnett who signed last week with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Crawford confirmed via text message Friday that he had signed with the Giants, who chose him in the ninth round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.

The speedy center fielder said he believed he was being assigned to the Class A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, in Salem, Ore., though he wasn’t positive. A post to his Twitter account Sunday also suggested the Arizona Giants, San Francisco’s rookie-league affiliate in Scottsdale, Ariz., might be a possible destination as well.

As of press time, neither team’s roster could confirm where Crawford had been assigned.

Schutz, who was taken by the Orioles in the 19th round three years after that same organization drafted him in the 26th round of the 2006 draft, signed June 15, according to the Evansville Courier & Press, his hometown paper.

“There’s a lot of weight off my shoulders,” Schutz told the Courier & Press.

That report also stated that Schutz would be assigned to the Bluefield Orioles, Baltimore’s rookie-league affiliate in the Appalachian League, though as of press time the team’s incomplete online roster did not include his name.

Most rookie league rosters are still being decided as teams figure out where they want to place drafted prospects within their systems.

Many college players go straight into short-season rookie league ball simply because they have already played a full college season and teams do not want to strain them early in their careers.