Dream comes true; 19-year-old to play pro ball

As a young boy growing up playing Little League baseball, Brandon Verley of White Salmon, like others that age, dreamed of someday playing professional baseball.

Verley's dream of having a professional baseball career came true last Saturday when he signed a contract with Major League Baseball's Florida Marlins during an informal ceremony at his parents' Northwestern Lake home that included his grandparents, a few friends, and his high school coach, Larry McCutcheon.

Wednesday, the 2004 Columbia High School graduate boarded a flight in Portland, Ore., bound for Jupiter, Fla., where he was scheduled to undergo a physical examination Thursday before joining his new team, the Gulf Coast Marlins of the Gulf Coast League.

He'll finish out the season with the Marlins' rookie league team, then join other Marlins prospects in October for the month-long Instructional League.

Later in the fall, he plans to return to White Salmon, then attend the Marlins' minor-league spring training camp next March in hopes of making one of Florida's long-season ballclubs.

"It's a huge step," Verley said, "making the jump from high school to pro baseball. It will take time for me to get settled in and adjust to the higher level of play, but I'm confident I will do it."

Verley, the Marlin's 15th-round pick in last month's first-year player draft, received a $200,000 signing bonus from the big-league club, plus nearly $100,000 for continuing education at the four-year college or university of his choice.

By signing with the Marlins, Verley forsook an athletic scholarship from Washington State University, for which he had signed a national letter of intent last fall to play baseball.

Verley's plans to play collegiate baseball changed when he, his parents, Des and Sheryl, and his agent, Jay Franklin (the brother of Seattle Mariners pitcher Ryan Franklin), were able to negotiate a deal with Marlins management in the weeks that followed the 2004 amateur draft.

"I can always go back to school," said Verley, who celebrated his 19th birthday last Friday. "But this (playing professional baseball) has been my dream, always. It's a great opportunity and I'm ready to go, now, so why wait four years to do it?"

Verley, a left-handed batter who hits with power to all fields, will play outfield and possibly first base for the short-season Gulf Coast team, which is composed of mostly first-year players, according to David Post, the Marlins' Northwest Area scout who signed Verley.

Post said the Marlins took a chance on Verley in the 15th round of the amateur draft because they like the way he can swing a bat.

"Our organization feels Brandon has the potential to be a very special offensive guy," the Marlins scout noted. "But, for me personally, the thing that impressed me most about him, beyond all the home runs he hit and the runs he drove in, was the way he conducted himself around his teammates and how he played the game the right way."

Post said Verley probably lasted until the 15th round of the draft because other teams had "misconceptions about his signability."

"We view Brandon as a fourth- or fifth-round pick," Post said. "We're happy Brandon was there when it came our turn to pick (in the 15th round), and that everything worked out for us to sign him."

Before last month's draft, Verley said there had been a lot of hype about when he might be selected.

"I was looking to go in a certain place in the draft and when I didn't it made me question my readiness," he said. "Once we got into negotiations with the Marlins, though, I found out that wasn't an issue. I realized that this (signing a pro contract) was what I obviously wanted to do."

Verley's parents said it was his decision to make whether to sign the contract or enroll at WSU in August.

"Brandon thought about it for two weeks because it was such a difficult decision," said his mother, Sheryl. "He really was looking forward to going to WSU."

But in the final issue, she added, it was less about the money than it was about pursuing "something that has been his dream since he was a little boy."

"We're totally excited for him," said his father, Des. "After all the years of hard work he's put in to get where he is, it's nice to see the success that's come to him."