Good news for Carnes; Starling selected fifth in MLB Draft

Bubba Starling can do it both, but expect him to play baseball

More good news for Brion Carnes.

Bubba Starlng, the highly touted Nebraska signee who was expected to join in the competition at quarterback for the Cornhuskers, was the fifth player chosen in Monday’s MLB draft.

The 6-4, 190 pound Kansas High school product was selected by his near hometown Kansas City Royals. He is a five-tool star studded outfielder, who has had baseball scouts drooling for a long time.

With his adviser renowned agent Scott Boris, Starling figures to demand and get a contract worth millions of dollars and it doesn’t seem likely the Royals want to risk injury by allowing him to play football.

Starling, who has run a reported 4.4 second forty yard dash, rushed for 2,417 yards and 31 touchdowns, but threw only eight TD passes for 812 yards last season for Gardner Edgarton High, which is about 10 miles from Kansas City.

Nebraska, like nearly every other football power that was recruiting Starling, said he could play both sports. But that doesn’t seem something Kansas City will be willing to accept especially with the big dollars Boras will be asking them to shower on his client.

ESPN baseball analyst and former Blue Jays executive Keith Law, said he expects Boras to advise the Starlings to start negotiations near the $6.25 million awarded top pick Bryce Harper a year ago by the Nationals. Another Boras client, Donovan Tate, signed in 2009 as the No. 3 pick for same figure with San Diego after contemplating a football-baseball career at North Carolina.

There were some questions raised at the Army All-American Bowl about Starling’s throwing and he didn’t get to play as much as he wanted so it seems unlikely he would risk all that potential money to play both sports and it seems just as unlikely that Kansas City will agree to him playing football.

For Barnes the news couldn’t have been better. Fighting for the backup quarterback job behind Taylor Martinez, the Manatee High product has seen two of his competitors leave the team within the last couple of weeks.