Shull signs contract with Rays

Trevor Shull was a “draft-and-follow” selection by Tampa Bay in June’s Major League Baseball draft.

The Central Valley pitcher is following his instincts and will be on an airplane this morning to West Virginia and professional baseball after signing Monday with the Rays.

Shull becomes the third Spokane-area player this year to turn pro out of high school. Bryan Peterson (West Valley) with Boston and Jarek Cunningham (Mt. Spokane) with Pittsburgh are playing in the Gulf Coast League.

“I’ve always dreamed of playing pro ball,” said Shull, a 17-year-old who was playing for the Spokane Dodgers traveling team last weekend. “There’s nothing better than getting paid to play baseball.”

Shull, a lanky right-hander, was CV’s No. 2 pitcher and had signed to play at Centenary in Louisiana. Dodgers coach Jeff Simmelink said that this spring, however, had a huge upside because of his youth and whip-like arm. He was 3-5 during the prep season and 6-1 for the Dodgers entering the Curt Daniels Invitational last weekend in Vancouver.

The Rays took him 593rd in the 19th round of the draft and told him they would watch him over the summer, he said. A draft-and-follow player has until August to sign. This past weekend Tampa Bay scouts had him in the bullpen and worked on his mechanics.

“(They wanted) to see if I could make changes quickly and how coachable I was,” Shull said. “They must have liked what they saw.”

He said the offer to sign was more than he expected.

“I kind of figured that what would happen was I would progress somewhat, they’d give me an offer, but I’d probably be better off in college,” Shull said. “Their approach was totally different. They said they liked the movement on my fastball, liked my breaking pitch and apparently told my parents (Todd and Shea) they liked the way I was coachable.”

Following a physical, Shull will begin playing immediately for the Rays’ Appalachian League rookie team in Princeton, W.Va. Through July 8 the team, with 19 pitchers on its roster, was 8-12 but involved in 11 one-run games.

Shull said he understands he’s a projection guy because he is young and skinny, but that his goal is to make the fall instructional league.

“It’s still kind of surreal, but it’s going to be awesome,” Shull said of the offer.

•Through 10 games, Cunningham was hitting .412 for the Gulf Coast Pirates (14 for 34) with three doubles, a triple and a home run. Peterson was hitting .385 (15 for 39 in 11 games) with the Gulf Coast Red Sox and had two doubles, two triples and a home run. He’s scored nine runs and driven in seven.