At the end of the day, becoming a Met just felt right for Greg Peavey.
The right-handed pitcher from Vancouver agreed late Monday to sign with the New York Mets, becoming a professional baseball player at the age of 22.
“Words can’t describe how this feels,” Peavey said.
A 2007 Hudson’s Bay High School graduate, Peavey was selected on June 8 by the Mets in the sixth round, No. 182 overall, of the 2010 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft. He completed his junior season at Oregon State in early June.
Players drafted in June had until 8:59 p.m. PDT on Monday to agree to a contract. Peavey had to weigh the Mets’ offer against playing one more season at Oregon State.
He said he made his decision at about 7:30 p.m. Terms of the contract were not made public.
“It was a very difficult decision,” Peavey said. “I really enjoyed my time at Oregon State.”
Peavey still has to pass a physical. He expects to sign the official contract today and said he will likely report to the Mets training facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla., to begin his professional career in the Florida fall instructional league that begins play in September.
This was the third time Peavey has been drafted. He was taken by the Yankees in the 24th round of the 2007 draft following his senior season at Hudson’s Bay but chose to accept a scholarship from Oregon State. He also was picked in the 32nd round in 2009 by the Houston Astros.
He said Monday that he never came close to signing with the Yankees or Astros, and made his decision not to turn pro on those occasions long before the deadline.
Monday, Peavey said, was “a very, very long day” spent at home with his parents. He described the negotiating experience as “a land that you’re not familiar with.”
He said a lot of thought and prayer went into the decision to accept the Mets’ offer.
Peavey said he didn’t base his decision on a specific amount of money. He wanted an opportunity that felt right.
“It wasn’t a set number,” he said.
Peavey said he called Oregon State head coach Pat Casey and pitching coach Nate Yeskie with the news that he won’t be pitching for the Beavers as a senior.
Casey, Peavey said, “has always been very, very important to me.”
He said the support from the Oregon State coaches and teammates made Monday’s decision to leave difficult.
After struggling through his first two seasons at Oregon State, the right-hander emerged as a consistent pitcher as the Beavers reached the NCAA Tournament with a late-season surge.
Peavey finished 6-3 with a 3.64 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 99 innings. One of his wins was against Florida Atlantic in the first round of the NCAA regionals.
A decade ago this month, Peavey was part of a Hazel Dell Little League team that went to the Little League World Series. In 2001 and 2002, Peavey played for Hazel Dell Metro teams that won Babe Ruth World Series championships.
As a senior at Hudson’s Bay, he was selected the Washington Class 3A baseball player of the year.
At that time he was considered by some scouts to be the top professional baseball prospect among high school players in the state of Washington.
Late Monday, Greg Peavey the pro prospect became Greg Peavey the New York Mets prospect.
“It’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” Peavey said.
