Major league baseball is famous for exciting post-season formats, highly paid athletes, and 100 miles per hour fastballs. What it is not famous for are players with a college degree. According to a global sports statistics firm, Stats LLC, few MLB players hold a 4-year college degree. If you Google the term, “write my paper about MLB players with a college degree,” you will get tons of information on the topic.
If a player is looking to study business management, for example, he/she can do it online after practice or even before practice. Unfortunately, few major leaguers take advantage of these opportunities. This is what makes the players discussed below so unique. Some of the MLB players whose degrees will surprise you include:
-
John Axford
Popularly known as the Ax Man, John Axford has done many things in his life, including selling cell phones and bartending. He was the 219t overall selection by the Seattle Mariners. Instead of going into professional sports as soon as he was through with high school, he chose an athletic scholarship at Notre Dame.
He got a degree in film studies, which he put into good use. He is famous for his clever and witty tweets. He even predicted 11 of the 13 Oscar winners accurately in 2011. His predictions increased his Twitter following substantially and proved his intelligence.
-
John Mayberry, Jr.
Being that his dad is John Mayberry Sr., junior grew up with baseball in his blood. This tall outfielder had to choose in high school whether to pursue baseball or basketball. Thanks to his amazing swing with the bat, the Seattle Mariners chose him as the 28th overall pick in the 2002 draft. Instead of going for the millions of dollars he would make playing baseball after high school, he enrolled at Stanford University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. After graduation, the Texas Rangers made him their 19th overall pick.
-
Javier Lopez
Lopez is a Virginia Giants reliever who was born in Puerto Rico. He grew up in Washington D.C. when his father transferred to the area to pursue his career as an F.B.I. agent. Lopez studied at UVA, according to his team’s press guide. He said it was because he wanted to maintain consistency in baseball. He earned his bachelor’s in Psychology. However, his wife has a Ph.D. in the same field from the University of Tennessee.
-
Allen Craig
Allen Craig played for the California Cardinals as an outfielder. During the four seasons he played in Berkeley, his teammates include major league big names such as Tyson Ross, Brennan Boesch and Brandon Morrow. After earning a degree in Social Welfare, Craig said he was ready since he would find something to do after retiring from baseball, according to USA Today.
-
Will Rhymes
Will Rhymes was an infielder for William and Mary Rays. He started on the William and Mary team with his brother Jonathan. During this time, he was eyeing a career in medicine. Rhymes, who took violin classes when he was young, postponed taking his MCAT due to a standout summer in the Cape Cod League. Later, Rhymes earned a Pre-Medicine/Molecular Biology degree, with honors.
Players can sigh with MLB as soon as they graduate high school. Student athletes tend to separate themselves from the general school population by grouping themselves in certain majors. Some online courses, however, are opening up more opportunities for athletes who want to study for a particular degree.
