The Rangers are taking another chance on a player with substance-abuse i sues, signing former top draft pick Matt Bush after the pitcher spent nearly three years in prison.
Bush, 29, received a minor league deal from the organization that found succe s managing Josh Hamilton’s recovery from drug and alcohol abuse a few years back though Bush’s legal i sues were far more serious.
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He was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated after a hit-and-run wreck during spring training in 2012 that seriously injured a 72-year-old motorcyclist. Bush ultimately pleaded no contest to Sonny Jurgensen Jerseys DWI with serious bodily injury and spent 34 months in prison the last nine of them in a work-release program. He finished his sentence Oct. 30.
The Padres made the San Diego native then an infielder the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 draft and gave him a $3.15 million bonus. He started pitching in 2007but tore a ligament in his elbow and mi sed all of 2008 after having Tommy John surgery. The Padres later dealt him to the Blue Jays, who released him after he violated the “zero tolerance” policy they had imposed. He sat out the 2009 season.
When Bush signed with the Rays in 2010, he had “a serious off-the-field problem with Khaleke Hudson Jerseys alcohol” but said he was determined to change his ways. Coming off his prison stint, he told Texas media e sentially Chris Cooley Jerseys the same thing Thursday.
“I think my future is as bright as I can make it,” he said, via the . “I wake up each day in a positive state of mind. Now, I’ve got a pretty cut-and-dried approach to things. I want to be part of the game. I want to be a role model. I want to make the most of this opportunity.”
Bush’s father, Danny, will accompany him to spring training and wherever he might end up in the Texas farm system. Bush does not have a driver’s license and will be subject to MLB’s drug and alcohol testing program.
Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said Bush threw in the mid-90s in a recent bullpen se sion in Arlington. The organization likely will give him a shot to make it in Double-A or Triple-A as a reliever, though Daniels said he has no expectations about what Bush might contribute from the mound.
“My biggest expectations would be off the field to see him take things to the next step and keep moving his life in the right Kyle Shurmur Jerseys direction,” Daniels said. “Anything beyond that is a bonus for us.”