Wartburg baseball player hopes to catch on with the pros

After re-writing the Wartburg College record book, catcher Matt Thede is now looking to continue his baseball career as the Major League amateur draft approaches. Thede twice won the Iowa Conference Triple Crown and was named a division-three all-american his junior and senior seasons. He says his development at Wartburg has led him to this point. He says he considered going to a bigger school and being an average player, and decided to go to a smaller school and be a standout. He says he found out later that was an arrogant attitude and he had to work to get to the point where he would be drafted.Thede says about half the major league clubs scouted him during this past season. He says he’s talked to some scouts and has found the Expos, Phillies and A’s showing interest.Thede says he is drawing a lot of attention because he is a catcher. He says he doesn’t have the “wheels” but he doesn’t need that as a catcher because he has a good arm.Thede says while he wanted to play division-one baseball coming out of high school, he is happy he ended up at Wartburg.