Mari Halstead couldn’t take her eyes off the screen, watching name after name tick by. Some she recognized, others she didn’t, but none mattered until the San Francisco Giants made their selection in the 21st round.
The Giants selected a fifth year senior relief pitcher from IU, or, as Mari knows him, her son Ryan.
She couldn’t turn and congratulate her son. Instead, she had to run outside. Why? Because IU’s leader in saves and appearances wasn’t watching the draft.
He said he didn’t want to think about where and when he might get drafted.
“I was just kind of hanging out playing basketball with my dad while it was happening,” Halstead said. “I was never really sitting down and watching it.”
After he stopped playing basketball, Halstead got on the phone with someone from the Giants organization, at which time he officially learned he was drafted.
Then on Thursday he talked with a few more members of the Giants so he could get a better understanding of what might be waiting for him in the coming months.
As of now, Halstead hasn’t made a lot of progress regarding where he might be reporting to.
He still needs to pass a physical and then figure out whether the Giants choose to send him to their short season team, their Arizona Fall League team or anywhere else in the system.
Wednesday marked the third time Halstead has been drafted. The first came after a senior season at Los Osos High School in Southern California in which he only pitched 9.2 innings, but it was enough to get him drafted in the 36th round by the Houston Astros.
He turned down the Astros’ offer, electing to further his amateur career at IU. After his junior season, a season in which Halstead pitched in the College World Series, he was drafted in the 26th round by the Minnesota Twins, the same team that drafted his roommates Dustin DeMuth and Aaron Slegers that year.
But once again, he turned a professional contract down, wanting to improve on what he had already done at IU.
Then, Halstead got hurt in his first home game of his senior season, tearing his ACL while trying to field a bunt on the wet turf at Bart Kaufman Field.
After rehab, Halstead was back for his fifth season in Bloomington, a season which typically diminishes a prospect’s chances of being drafted high in the MLB Draft.
But not only was Halstead drafted after his fifth season, he was drafted higher than he has been before.
So, when his mom came running out of the house to tell Halstead the news, he only had one reaction.
“Are you serious?”
Halstead had no real indication the Giants were interested.
There was no team, no scout who stood out to him as someone more interested in him than the other men with radar guns behind home plate.
But Halstead was less concerned with who he was drafted by, just that he was drafted.
“After I got hurt there was no promise to play again, whether it be at IU or after that,” Halstead said. “I was just glad I was able to continue to get healthy and help my teammates out at Indiana and give myself an opportunity to see what happens down the road.”
