” For two former University of Akron baseball players, it’s a dream come true: receiving the phone call from a MLB team on Draft Day. Pitcher Tom Farmer and outfielder Doug McNulty both were recipients of those calls Friday evening from two different teams.”
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For two former University of Akron baseball players, it’s a dream come true: receiving the phone call from a MLB team on Draft Day.

Pitcher Tom Farmer and outfielder Doug McNulty both were recipients of those calls Friday evening from two different teams.

Farmer garnered inters from a number of teams, the team, the most serious was the Minnesota Twins.

He still found himself a bit nervous when he hadn’t heard his named called by the 47th round.

I was stressing out all day, he recalled. As the rounds kept passing – 30, 40 and then 45 – I was like, ‘Wow, this is probably not going to happen.’ When I started to come to terms with it not happening, that’s when I got the call.

Farmer, who was drafted in the 20th round in 2007, got the call again from the Twins organization, something that really did not surprise him.

I talked to a few people and the Twins were the most interested team, the 6-foot-2 right-hander said. They drafted me last year and I had talked to them throughout the year and last summer. So I had a pretty good idea.

Farmer spent this past year recovering from shoulder surgery; something that he believes affected his draft round.

Surgery took a lot out of me, he said. And I haven’t quite got back to where I was before.

Farmer won’t be moving to one of the Twin Cities just yet, however. The Twins have assigned him to a college league in Canton where he will be playing with some former teammates.

He will be in the company of outfielder and pitcher Drew Turocy and pitcher Frank Turocy and infielder Kevin Haas.

While he felt he made significant improvements during the spring, he thinks that playing this summer will definitely help him.

It’s progressing but not nearly like it was in the beginning of the spring, he said. It’s all about getting into a rhythm and once I start playing summer ball and pitching consistently, then I think it will all come back.

I got the call about two hours after I got picked up, McNulty said. They tried calling my house phone and it was ringing off the wall.

You play your whole baseball career to get to this point, he said. Now that I’m here and it’s starting to sink in, it’s just a matter of doing well and making your way up.

I was sitting there watching with my parents, McNulty recalled. I said to them ‘What are some other options?’ I thought about playing independent ball or signing free agent with a major league team.

McNulty admitted that several teams had showed interest but he didn’t care who called his name.

I kind of figured it would either be the (Cincinnati) Reds or the Mets, he said. I was just excited when I saw my name up there.

Farmer and McNulty have spent their UA careers helping to rebuild the baseball program, and their work has paid off.

It’s a testament to where our program was when I came in and where the program’s going now at the university, McNulty said. This definitely helps. You get those kids who now think, ‘I’ll go to Akron and they can get me into the draft.’

I’m excited for this opportunity for myself, McNulty said. (But) I’m more excited for the program and how much this helps it out.

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