Russell Wilson gets drafted by baseball’s Texas Rangers

Could Russell Wilson be lured away from the Seahawks?

“I love baseball, but football is where my first love is,” Wilson told reporters at a press conference Thursday. Earlier that morning the Texas Rangers drafted him.

Wilson said he didn’t even know he was eligible to be drafted.

It’s unlikely, but it’s not that uncommon for football players to also moonlight as Major League Baseball players – most notably: Neon Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson – who was so successful that Nike made commercials about him.

As far as going the Bo Jackson route, Wilson said that he’s thought about it before, but right now he’s focused on football.

The Rangers paid a $12,000 fee to draft Wilson, who will be placed on the club’s restricted list.

He was picked up in Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 Draft. That’s when a club has five years to evaluate a player who signs his first pro contract at 18 years old or younger, but only four years to decide on a player who signs at age 19 or above. Those prospects who are not placed on the 40 man roster that meet these requirements are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. As a result, teams must place their most valuable prospects on the 40 man roster.

Clearly Wilson’s old team, the Colorado Rockies did not value Russell as much as we do, or as much as the Texas Rangers do.

If you’re wondering why the Rangers would draft Wilson, consider it a marketing plan. Eric Fisher of Sports Business Journal points out via Twitter that the “Rangers spent $12,000 to get rights to Russell Wilson (and) made it all back and then some already just on value of marketing exposure.”

Or maybe it’s a way to hedge their bets.

Rangers assistant general manager A.J. Preller told Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “The biggest thing that intrigued us on Russell from afar is the makeup, the way he goes about his business, the professionalism, the competitor, the message we try to preach throughout our organization, for us to at least have that as part of our organization.”

Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News noted that Wilson will likely be asked to speak to some of the organization’s young minor-league players at spring training. And Wilson said Thursday he’d be interested in stopping by spring training to talk to the team.

A second baseman during his baseball days, Wilson was drafted by the Rockies in the fourth round of the 2010 amateur draft out of North Carolina State. He was a .229 hitter with five home runs and 26 RBIs during two seasons of Double-A ball. He left the Rockies organization in 2011 when he transferred to Wisconsin, where he played one season before Seattle chose him in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft.

Before the 2012 NFL Draft, Russell talked about his time in minor league baseball with the Wall Street Journal.

“I started off in (Class) A Ball, and I thought I did pretty good – but you always want to do better whenever you’re playing a professional sport,” recounted Wilson. “I just know that my heart and my desire to play football was unmatchable.”

And although he is clearly a fantastic athlete – like many of us he’s simply a mere mortal with a bat in his hands, hitting only .229 in the lowest levels of the minor leagues.

710Sports.com Editor Brady Henderson contributed to this report.