Cole Limbaugh was taken in the 47th round of the MLB Draft. Brian Schoenhals
“I was actually at a friend house when they called and said they were drawing my name off the board and were about to draft me,” Limbaugh said. “I was real surprised because I told most of the scouts that I didn’t want to get drafted, because I was going to college. They went ahead and took me anyway in the 47th round.”
Limbaugh is the third player to get drafted from Childersburg High School since 2005. The Milwaukee Brewers drafted Zealous Wheeler in 2005 and in 2008, younger brother Brian Wheeler was the drafted by the Detroit Tigers.
“It was a great honor and privilege to get drafted,” Limbaugh said. “It really shows how good God has been to me with I can make the choice to go to Samford or go play profession ball. I hope to do that in maybe three years or four years when I graduate from Samford. Hopefully I can get drafted again.”
Childersburg head coach Chad Slaten said he was elated when he received the call saying the Limbaugh was going to get drafted.
“Any time you get drafted it is a big deal,” Childersburg head coach Chad Slaten said. “It says a lot about him and all the work that he has put in throughout his career. I think it is well deserved and I was tickled to death that he gotten drafted.”
Limbaugh plans to study major in education to be a teacher or he may go into college coaching.
“I just want to go to college and get that education,” Limbaugh said. “I feel like there is a lot more I can do to better my game before I make that step. I think I need to first off gain some weight and just learn more about pitching in general. I am not ready to completely move away from my family and my friends at this age. I would be out on my own and wouldn’t be able to see my family very much at all.”
The Bulldogs signee posted a record of 9-4 with a 1.57 ERA in 58 innings of work as a senior. He struck out 81 batters, while allowing just 21 walks. He also got it done with his bat as he batted .402 with six home runs and 32 RBI. On Thursday a member of the Mets organization made the trip to Childersburg to meet Limbaugh.
“He mainly came and talked about how life is in the minor league and how it works on a day-to-day basis,” Limbaugh said. “We mainly talked about things like that and he said that he will be watching me over the next couple years at Samford.”
Slaten said everyone in the Childersburg community is proud of Limbaugh and the other players that have been selected over the last six years.
“It is good for our program to have three kids drafted in the last six years,” Slaten said. “We take a lot of pride in our program and things like that make your program look good. It is great talent; those are the three really good kids. We have a lot good kids that didn’t get drafted and some really good kids coming. We are very proud of them when they get drafted and the city of Childersburg, our program, our high school and their family is very proud of them.”
Contact LaVonte Young at lyoung@dailyhome.com.
