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Red Sox drafted college pitcher hours after first chemo treatment
Clate Schmidt, a right-handed pitcher who just wrapped up his junior season at Clemson, has experienced a whirlwind few days like few others could understand or even imagine.
As the 21-year-old prospect prepared for the MLB first-player draft and what he anticipated would be a life-changing phone call from an MLB executive, he was rocked by another life-changing call from his doctor, who informed him he had nodular sclerosing lymphoma.
The news understandably sent Schmidt for a loop. Days earlier, he'd gone to a doctor that discovered a swollen lymph node, but never thought cancer was on the radar. He felt healthy. He'd experienced no other symptoms. He simply dismissed it as an infection.
Then came that call, which immediately changed.his focus from his future in baseball to his health.
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On Wednesday, which was also the final day of MLB's three-day, 40-round draft Schmidt underwent his first round of chemotherapy. Though not the furthest thing from his mind, he was resigned to the possibility that his name wouldn't be called as he began his unexpected different battle.
But then came another call with much more uplifting news. In the 32nd round, the Boston Red Sox made Clate Schmidt the 951st player selected overall. Though the circumstances were entirely different than they had been just one week prior, that call indeed changed his life, or at least gave him that extra boost of energy, fight and determination to knock down the challenge in front of him.
Here's more from the Boston Globe:
I’m still in shock that I got picked by Boston,” said Schmidt. “I’m so grateful that they drafted me. Immediately after being drafted, all these people from Boston and Red Sox Nation were congratulating me, saying ‘we’re praying for you’ and ‘we’re pulling for you’.”
It was an easy decision for the Sox to make.
“Once we found out about the diagnosis, we as a group kind of put our heads together,” said Mike Rikard, Red Sox director of amateur scouting. “Someone came up with the idea that we could select him and, at the very least, help to put a smile on his face as he’s going through this obviously extremely challenging time in his life.
“I truly feel honored that we were able to hopefully give him a little bright spot in this challenging time.”
As the story notes, Schmidt was already a big fan of former Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester, who was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma in 2006. Now he'll look to Lester for an entirely different type of inspiration.
After successful treatment, Lester bounced back to become one of baseball's most successful pitchers in MLB over the past 10 seasons, including helping Boston to two World Series championships. That's the bright light at the end of the tunnel.
“I’ve always been a huge fan of Lester,” said Schmidt. “I still consider him a huge part of the Red Sox. My dad and I talked about it earlier, going over his story and seeing how he bounced back right from the same exact thing that I have. Hopefully, that’s what I’m able to do to.”
The Globe story goes further in depth with Schmidt, his family, his life within baseball and the challenge he'll be facing head on. It's an inspiring story in its own right, and it's a must read for everybody, not just baseball fans.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
