Fmr. Illini Ace Pitcher Ty Weber Signs With San Francisco Giants; Future Plans Still TBD
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Ty Weber has a contract with San Francisco Giants but beyond that, he’s still unclear as to where and when he’ll be playing baseball again.
The Illinois ace starting pitcher, who signed as a undrafted free agent earlier this week, is still playing catch at his childhood home with his father Dave in order to keep his arm ready for whenever and wherever he’ll be headed for a preseason camp. Dave Weber is familiar with being drafted as he was selected by the Los Angeles Raiders in the 11th round of the 1988 NFL Draft.
“It just seems like every organization is taking a different approach to this,” Weber said in a Zoom video conference with local media. “It obviously makes me a little anxious not knowing if I could be in Arizona in three weeks or I won’t be down there until February.”
Weber is still yet to even take his medical physical because the coronavirus pandemic mixed with labor issues between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Union has created a complete unknown path for the 6-foot-4 right-hander.
“Right now it’s really at a standstill all across the board,” Weber said. “All I can really do is just continue working on my own and trying to keep up with what my process has been the last couple months.”
Weber declined to disclose the signing bonus the Giants submitted to him in his undrafted free agent contract but the 22-year old from Menomonee Falls, Wis., called it one “I just couldn’t pass up.”
However, the Giants have not been able to tell any of its new rookies such as Weber where or when they’ll be sent next as the Arizona Fall League and minor league baseball’s future continues to be in doubt.
“Weeks before the draft all you were hearing was minor league teams were going to get cut and a bunch of minor league players got cut,” Weber said. “That was making my chances and a lot of other seniors’ chances pretty bleak because if they were cutting players they may not want to sign any.”
A weekend starter for nearly the entirety of his career, Weber was off to his best start in an Illinois uniform in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the college baseball season after only four weeks. As Illinois' ace, Weber had a 2-0 record and 1.31 ERA in four starts. He threw 20 2/3 innings, striking out 15 and walking only two for a big jump in his career strikeout-to-walk ratio.
One of his most memorable and dominant outings came two weeks before the 2020 season was shut down when Weber dueled future No. 4 overall pick Asa Lacy and then-No. 13 Texas A&M. Lacy threw six shutouts innings while Weber threw 6 2/3 shutout frames, as the Illini eventually won a 1-0 thriller on a Friday night in front of 6,272 fans at the Frisco Classic.
With the COVID-19 pandemic creating a cancelled spring high school and collegiate sports season, MLB determined the 2020 draft would be shortened from the normal 45 rounds to just five rounds. At that point, Weber made plans to return to Illinois for another year of college baseball as the NCAA granted spring athletes an extra year of eligibility. The college baseball 35-player roster limit will not be in full effect for the 2021 season. Division I college baseball rosters will still be under the 35-player, 27-scholarship player and 11.7 scholarship limit for all players who weren’t seniors in the 2020 campaign that was cut short. The 2020 seniors who elect to return can be placed on the roster as essentially a freebie individual who won’t count against the 35/27/11.7 policy.
“I really thought that I was probably going to end back up at Illinois,” Weber said Tuesday afternoon. “If I hadn’t been offered (by the Giants), that was definitely the route I was taking. I had an internship all set up in the fall. I was about to enroll there for the fall had I not gotten the call. It was an offer I just couldn’t pass up.”