Duane Underwood turns 18 next week. The former baseball star got an early start on the celebration by signing a professional contract with the Chicago Cubs, who recently made him in the Major League Baseball draft.
Terms of the agreement were not announced; Underwood will report to the Cubs' rookie team in Mesa, Ariz.
Underwood, a right-handed pitcher, was 6-1 with a 2.36 ERA with the Greyhounds as a senior, striking out 75 in 50-1/3 innings.
He had signed a scholarship offer last fall to play baseball at the University of Georgia.
Two of his rookie teammates with the Cubs are the sons of famous athletes: Shawon Dunston Jr., whose father was a star shortstop with the Cubs, and Trevor Gretzky. His father is hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky.
The Cubs pick at #67 was slotted for $769,600, so that's roughly the amount he signed for. MLB put in a hard cap of sorts to prevent teams from buying players out of their college commitments, so Underwood may have gotten less than advertised in order for the Cubs to save some money to sign their big boy Albert Almora (which they did Wednesday). However, I've read in another place that Underwood got a "Just over a million dollar bonus," so maybe they made cuts elsewhere. I DO know that the Cubs only have about $22,000 left in spare slot money to play with, so they may not be able to sign any more of their picks (they have 20 of 29 signed now). From what I've read of Underwood, he has a 98 MPH fastball but his curve needs work.