Finding a Way: 50th Round Draft Pick to ‘The Show’

One of the best men I know is a gentleman called Efrén Navarro. He, our friend Randy Molina, and I were teammates in our formative high school years and we went everywhere together in the recruiting and scouting scene. We all parted ways when we were recruited to college. I went to San Diego, Randy played for Stanford, and Efrén was a star at UNLV. 

Players are eligible for the MLB Draft after their third year in the NCAA and Efrén was infamously selected as the second to last pick by the Los Angeles Angels. Efrén and Randy and I kept in touch and discussed with Efrén him being selected and the seemingly obvious choice: go back to school for your senior season. 

“I think I’m actually going to sign,” Efrén stated. 

I was floored. “Dude, what’s the worst that can happen? You get picked last next year? Don’t be silly. Come back to school and we’ll all sign next year..” He saw it differently. Efrén signed as a draft pick that almost never makes it to the Big Leagues. 

Randy and I were selected the next year by the Padres and Mariners respectively. We’d be cut by the end of the 2009 season. Efrén, however, would be called up to the Major Leagues in 2011 and go on to amass a professional career more than a decade long that would include a Gold Glove award, a trip to the summer Olympics, and a life changing career for his family as a first generation Mexican American. 

I think of Efrén more than he probably knows because he’s the embodiment of finding a way to succeed. I would rate myself as an advocate for chasing dreams and as a risk tolerant individual. Nonetheless, there I was trying to convince my guy to play it safe and go back to school. Boy, did he prove the world wrong..

I hope you do, too.