It has been a roller coaster Spring for Taylor Dollard and Bradlee Beesley, but both Mustang standouts are headed to the pros.
For Dollard, the young right-handed pitcher's dream became a reality last week as the Encino native was drafted in the fifth round by the Seattle Mariners.
"It really hasn’t hit me," Dollard said. "I’ve been telling everybody that it’s not going to hit me until I’m on a plane ride going to either Seattle or out Arizona. I can actually finally sleep again at night and not be stressing about it, and I have an idea of where I’m going for next year so I couldn’t be happier."
When it comes to Beesley, it was a different path for number five, but the result was the same. The Cal Poly senior outfielder signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Chicago Cubs.
"From the beginning the Cubs just showed a lot of love, a lot of interest," Beesley said. "For me it’s always like, early bird gets the worm, so they were the first team to lay out all their cards on the table. Then other teams came in, and I was waiting on phone calls but my heart was with the Cubs, so I’m just super excited to get started with them."
As the next chapter begins, Beesley and Dollard close the chapter on two unforgettable careers at Cal Poly.
"Not many schools believed in me out of high school," Dollard added. Between Coach Lee and the other coaches I feel like I’m learning something every day, I feel like I’m getting better every single day. You just can’t replace it, you can’t practice it. It’s just invaluable to me."
"I couldn’t ask for a better place to be my last four years," Beesley said. "I had every opportunity to develop as a baseball player, not just skill wise but mentally too. If you want to make it to the pros, Cal Poly is an absolutely great place to be."
"When you get a chance to see your players develop from their freshman to junior or senior year, and get drafted and get an opportunity to play professional baseball, it’s great," head baseball coach Larry Lee said. "They’ll make the most of it, and they’ll be very successful."
