Having just been snubbed in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft, David Walters hopped in his car June 13 and drove five hours from Florence, S.C., to a high school in Stone Mountain, Ga., to pitch in front of a group of Major League Baseball scouts.

“I wanted things to happen right now,” said Walters, a 2005 River Hill graduate. “I knew me being down about (not being selected) wouldn’t help.”

So Walters went out and threw a series of fastballs he said scouts clocked at between 90 and 93 miles.

A few hours later, while Walters was driving back to South Carolina, his cell phone rang. It was a scout offering him a free-agent contract with the Orioles, the team that he has been a fan of since he was 6. It was also the realization of a childhood dream: to get a job playing baseball.

“I was kind of in disbelief (when I got the call). College friends used to call acting like scouts,” Walters said.
Walters pulled his car over because he was so overcome with emotion. His first pet growing up was a Cocker Spaniel named Ripken; Cal was his favorite player.

“He always wanted to be an Oriole. For 19 years he’s been talking about it and now it’s true,” close family friend Cindie Natoli said.

Three days earlier, Walters and his family were on the other end of the emotional spectrum. Walters expected to be drafted somewhere between the 15th and 30th rounds of the MLB entry draft. It seemed to be a reasonable expectation considering that he was drafted in the 47th round of the 2008 draft by the Atlanta Braves.

That summer he played for the Forest City Owls of the Coastal Plain League, setting franchise records for wins (seven) and strikeouts (68). He went 7-3 with a 1.72 ERA and .171 batting average against in 73 1/3 innings.

The Coastal Plain League uses wooden bats and is “a lot like minor league baseball,” said David’s father, Chris Walters.

David’s coaches suggested that he return to Francis Marion University for his senior year of college and then re-enter the draft.

This spring, Walters went 7-3 in 15 starts, striking out 55 batters against 23 walks with a 5.97 ERA in 72 1/3 innings. As a junior, he went 9-4 with 91 strikeouts against 27 walks and a 4.66 ERA in 92.2 innings.

The first day of the 2009 draft came and went without Walters’ name being called. Chris Walters watched from home on the Internet. Natoli watched the draft on her laptop computer from a golf cart while her husband, Dan, and David played 18 holes. David shot an 87 that day.

Finally, after the draft ended and more than 1,500 names had been called, the suspense was over. David was not selected.

“It was a very rough two days,” Natoli said. “I (was) devastated for him ... The heartbreak that I went through watching him not get drafted.’ ”

But Walters, who was lightly recruited out of high school after being chosen Howard County’s Player of the Year as a senior, allowed the letdown to get to him for about two minutes, burying his face in his hands and rubbing his eyes. Then he got back to work.

“I was stunned for a little bit. I just took it as now I need to find a place to play because I want to play and I know I can compete at that level,” said Walters, who spent his first two years of college at Spartanburg Methodist. "I just wanted a place to play."

“A 21-year-old inspired me on how to deal with certain things,” Natoli said. “I thought he’d be broken into a million pieces ... it was like he grew up right in front of me."

Walters does not regret returning to college for his senior year, or what happened after that decision. He has about a semester left on his general studies degree, but he’s not sure when he will finish because of his baseball commitments.

“He made the right choice (to return),” said Rick Lloyd, Walters’ high school coach. “I thought definitely he would play at the college level and eventually play in the minors. His arm was his ticket. I think he can go far with his passion for the game.”

The Gulf Coast League Orioles’ season started June 23 in Sarasota, Fla., and Walters is expected to throw an inning. He hopes to move up to the Bluefield (W.Va.) Orioles of the Appalachian League or the New York-Penn League’s Aberdeen IronBirds sooner rather than later.

“We’re hoping he’ll move up pretty quickly,” Chris Walters said. “That’s all David needed was a chance."

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