EXERT & EXHALE
the University of Louisville’s march to the College
World Series. So, he’s now 22, a mere baby in most
professions but a late starter in professional sports.
On the other hand, a good thing about playing
sports is that your performance is out there on
the field. If you’re good, you’re good.
Ellis was good at the University of Louisville.
He hit .367 with 20 home runs and earned All-
American honors on the team that won 53 of 65
games, all the way to Omaha, beating Texas A&M
before back-to-back losses to Florida and TCU
cancelled the dream.
“It was a super-special year,” he recalled. “The
most fun I’ve had playing baseball – not just
because we were winning, but because of the
way we were winning.”
He also said “the atmosphere on campus was
great. One reason I chose Louisville was because
of the fan support. They showed up even when
it was cold out.”
It was a close team, too, and Ellis spent much
of the off-season working out at the UofL athletic
facilities with ex-teammates like Brendan McKay,
Colby Fitch and Devin Hairston, three of several
Cardinals who were also drafted by big-league
teams.
McKay was a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay
Rays. He spent the season in Wappinger Falls, N.Y.,
with the Hudson Valley Renegades of the New
York-Pennsylvania League. A versatile athlete
who played first base and pitched in college, he
hit .232 and won his only pitching decision.
Shortstop Hairston was drafted in the fourth
round and spent 2017 in Appleton, Wisconsin,
with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, a Milwaukee
Brewers property in the Class A Midwest League.
He hit .210 and made 10 errors in 44 games.
Fitch, the Cards’ catcher, was drafted in the 13th
round by the Philadelphia Phillies. He split the
summer between the Lakewood (N.J.) Blue Claws
of the South Atlantic League and Williamsport
(Pa.) Crosscutters of the New York-Pennsylvania
League. Fitch hit only .217 at Lakewood, but .350
in Williamsport.
The point is, it’s a long haul for almost everybody,
even the best college players. But it’s all part of
the dream, a dream so many young athletes have
growing up.
Ellis recalled first dreaming the dream at
Jeffersonville High School, when he saw other
local players getting scouted by pro teams. “I
remember thinking, ‘I’m as good as these guys,
but I’m not getting any attention.’ So I changed
my thinking, and started working my butt off.”
He had been a shortstop in high school, but
Louisville coach Dan McDonnell moved him to
third in college because the Cardinals already had
slick-fielding Hairston. That makes Ellis’ prospects
on the Diamondbacks somewhat problematic.
They already have a third baseman. Jake Lamb
hit 30 home runs and drove in 105 runs last year.
And he’s only 26.
A scouting report on Ellis said defense is his
biggest question mark – “lack of range” – and that
maybe first base is a better option. But the D-backs
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