Diamond in the Rough: Minor Leaguer Transitioning to Receiver
8/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 15, 2011
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
For the last six years, Clay Fuller has lived out the dream that he first had as a 10-year-old boy, when he drew a picture of himself decked out in the uniform of a professional baseball player.
As an outfielder in the Los Angeles Angels' farm system, the former fourth-round draft pick worked his way up to the Double-A club in Little Rock, Ark., and was a phone call away from the major leagues.
But the 24-year-old Fuller gave up that dream at the end of last month and traded it in for another one, joining the Baylor football team as a walk-on receiver.
"Heck yeah it was a tough call," said the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Fuller, who hadn't played football since his senior season at Smithson Valley High School in 2005. "It's been my dream to play professional baseball my entire life. But when it came down to it, I really put it on God and He pretty much said, `This isn't the lifestyle I want you to have anymore.' It wasn't about the game. I love the game. I could have pursued baseball for five, 10 more years. It was just a decision I made and I ran with it, and I couldn't be happier right now."
Although Fuller had steadily worked his way up the ladder, going from rookie league in Mesa, Ariz., and Orem, Utah, to Class A ball in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and finally promoted to Double-A last year, he put it all behind him for the family he hopes to have some day.
"When it came down to it, I wanted to be the dad that my dad was to me," he said. "He was a dad that would coach his kids from when they were 5 years old, all the way up. And with the lifestyle that baseball has, I wasn't going to be able to do that."
As part of a 2006 recruiting class that included Kendal Volz - his best friend since childhood and teammate at Smithson Valley - Fuller originally signed a baseball letter of intent with Baylor in November 2005. So his decision to join the Baylor football team six years later brings everything full circle.
"When I was going through it, my dad was like, `Do you really want to play football?''' Fuller said. "Heck yeah, I want to play football. If I'm going to go to school, I might as well play. And I didn't contact another school. This is where I was committed out of high school . . . and this is where I've been the last five years visiting. It was just a perfect fit. (Baylor head coach Art Briles) actually recruited me when he was at the University of Houston and told me that if baseball doesn't work out to give him a call. So it just worked out perfect that he came here."
Signing with the Angels instead of joining Volz at Baylor, Fuller hit .268 in short-season rookie league ball in 2006 and then .301 the next year with five home runs, 30 RBI and 21 stolen bases.
In 2008, when he was promoted to Class A at Cedar Rapids, Fuller hit .260 with nine homers, 36 RBI and career bests for hits (114), doubles (19), triples (13) and stolen bases (36).
Last year proved to the best and worst of times, when Fuller hit a career-high .331 in 44 games with high-A Rancho Cucamonga before slumping to .168 after a mid-year promotion to the Double-A Arkansas Travelers.
Still in Little Rock for this season, Fuller was hitting .249 with eight homers, 34 RBI and 10 stolen bases when he left the club at the end of July.
"Before the season started, I said I was going to re-evaluate after this year," Fuller said. "My family knew, everybody knew . . . and I still had a desire to play this game (football). And if I was going to do it, now was the time. It was either all or nothing. I'm either going to go for it and (baseball) is what I'm going to be doing for the next 10 years. Or go this route and have a heck of a time here."
When Fuller had his high school coach, Larry Hill, contact Briles about him walking on, Briles' quick response: "We're waiting on you."
Within days of telling the Angels' organization about his decision - "they weren't too happy, but that's the way it goes" - Fuller was making the drive from Little Rock to Waco, Texas, and checking in for fall camp.
Then the real fun began.
"It's two completely different sports, I'll tell you that," said Fuller, who played receiver at Smithson Valley, where Volz and Baylor All-American Joe Pawelek were linebackers. "One is controlled aggression, and then the other one is all-out 110 percent every blast. The game is definitely faster. I'm having a blast, though."
Eight days and seven practices into it, Fuller said, "I don't really know what route I'm running or what I'm doing. But the ball is there, catch it. It's all just a reactionary type thing right now. And it is starting to slow down, which is good."
"He's doing outstanding for a guy who hasn't played football in five years," Briles said of Fuller, who rarely drops the ball. "He's just picked it up and has great natural ability. He's a big guy with soft hands, very intelligent and very mature. We feel like we got a steal."
While inside receivers Mike Valdez and redshirt freshman Levi Norwood have tutored him on the routes, Fuller said junior quarterback Robert Griffin III "took me in under his wing."
"I really appreciate that, he's a solid dude, solid man of character," Fuller said of RG3. "Particularly being the starting quarterback, he doesn't need to do anything. I'm so far down (the depth chart) coming in. But he sent me a text the first day: `Happy that you're here.' Great guy, made me feel awesome. I can't speak enough of him."
For now, though, Fuller catches most of his passes from the Nos. 2 and 3 quarterbacks, Nick Florence and Bryce Petty. But with redshirt freshman Antwan Goodley out with an injury, he's even worked into the rotation with the second-team offense.
"It's kind of like riding a bike," Briles said. "You might not have ridden it for a while. But you jump back on it and wiggle around a little bit, and the next thing you know you're rolling down the highway saying, `Look, ma, no hands.'''
It's certainly in his bloodlines. His father, Kenny, played football at Texas Tech in the 1970s, while his brother, Lance, was a safety at Tech and his oldest brother, Cody, was a receiver and All-Big 12 outfielder with the Red Raiders who spent four years in the Angels' organization.
"I saw my brother go through it, and he retired for the same reasons," Clay said of Cody, who also made it to Double-A Arkansas before leaving after the '08 season. "He was married and was playing. He actually broke his leg colliding with another outfielder. But family was one of the main issues there, too. It's just the lifestyle. . . . This is a great education, and hopefully I can find me a lady friend along the way. And if I gave up baseball for a family, I better find a good one."
Fuller is also being used on special teams as a holder on kicks and a backfield protector on the punt team.
"I just want to do the best I can to help the team in any way," said Fuller, who's been stuck with the nicknames of `Old School' and `RBI' by his teammates and coaches. "If that's holding, if that's (on the punt team), if that's wide receiver, I just want to get on the field."
The other issue for the 24-year-old Fuller is being back in the class room for the first time in five years.
"I asked for tutors before school started, but they wouldn't give them to me," he said. "They said, `Can you still read and write?' I might be a little rusty, but I'm looking forward to it, really. I'm excited to learn, just because I've matured a little bit."
After learning the intricate playbook of Baylor's offense, freshman English should come easy.
