Whether Alex Webb is on the field or in the classroom, the numbers seem to be on his side.
During his senior season, the six-foot-three right-hander pitched four complete games, three shutouts, and owned a 1.38 earned-run-average, which was second in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, on his way to winning 2016 NAIA West Pitcher of the Year 鈥� for the second consecutive season.
Since starting at UBC in 2012, Webb completed 127 credits of an electrical engineering degree, maintained an A-minus average, and won multiple awards on the field, including a nod as an Academic American since the Canadian plays in a primarily U.S. league.
But when the Cincinnati Reds selected Webb in the ninth round of the 2016 MLB draft in June, he was still 25 credits short of graduating. For many, a professional contract is a reason to ditch school, but it wasn鈥檛 for Webb.
鈥淓ngineering was there before I considered baseball,鈥� said Webb, who grew up in White Rock. 鈥淚鈥檝e put in four years, all this money and time 鈥� it鈥檚 just something I鈥檝e got to do.鈥�
A successful summer moving up through the Reds system saw Webb promoted from the Billings Mustangs in the Rookie League to their single-A affiliate, the Dayton Dragons, for three games. Webb will spend his entire off-season, from September to March, at home in B.C., finishing the lasttechnical requirements of his engineering degree. In one of those assignments, he has eight months to work with a group and design modelling software for a real-world client. The final presentation is due in April.
But come March, school and baseball will begin to overlap. As the design project reaches its final stages, Webb will have to leave his classmates in 麻豆传媒映画for teammates in Arizona where he will compete for a spot in the Reds minor league system.
鈥淚 see myself doing baseball in the morning, what school I have to do in the afternoon, and at night, making sure I just keep in touch with my group,鈥� he said.
Webb was one of four Thunderbirds selected in the MLB draft this summer. Then, in August with the Dragons, a line-drive bounced off both him and the ump, making him internet-famous in for this 听double play. (He said the hit only "skimmed off" him and didn't hurt.)
听
Was that a 1-Blue-6-3 double play?!
鈥� Dayton Dragons (@DragonsBaseball)
听
When he is scheduled to give his final group presentation in the spring, Webb could be in Montana with the Mustangs or in Ohio, starting his first full season for the Dragons. To finish the school assignment with a group presentation, Webb hopes the Reds will permit him to fly home for a day 鈥� or at the very least, take part via Skype.
Webb said he鈥檇 rather not have to balance a major, partly peer-reviewed project with one of the most important opportunities to make an impression in professional sport. So why put himself in that position in the first place?
He didn鈥檛 want to waste any time. Not for baseball and not for engineering.
鈥淚t would be really hard to jump back into engineering with a lot of time off. I wanted to do it while the information was still fresh in my head,鈥� said Webb. 鈥淚 figured, you鈥檝e got time now, do it, just get it done鈥� You don鈥檛 have to spend your whole [sports] career thinking, holy crap, you鈥檝e got to go back to school after this.鈥�
Terry McKaig, the director of UBC Baseball and Webb鈥檚 coach for three years, is confident the
22-year-old T-Bird will be able to pull it all off.
鈥淚t might be a little bit more intense, given he鈥檚 a professional baseball player now, but for the most part, he鈥檚 one of the more gifted student-athletes we鈥檝e had here at UBC for finding the balance between school and baseball.鈥�
Come next December, Webb expects to graduate and will focus exclusively on his baseball career with the Reds, striving to make the major leagues.
鈥淚鈥檓 always confident in my abilities and I do believe I can get there,鈥� he said.
Webb is working hard to make it all add up.
