A “Meet & Greet” for former DCHS Tiger and Middle Tennessee Blue Raider pitching star Cody Puckett will be held today (Friday, June 16) from 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. at Northside Elementary School.
Selected by the Oakland Athletics in the Major League Baseball Draft on Wednesday, Cody is expected to be leaving for Arizona this weekend and later to the A’s rookie camp in Vermont. Family and friends invite you to stop by during today’s “Meet & Greet” for photos with Cody and to wish him well as be begins this new venture in his baseball career.
Puckett has spent the last two years as a Middle Tennessee Blue Raider after transferring from Columbia State Community College. Cody was also a standout for the DCHS Tigers during his high school years.
In an interview with WJLE Thursday, Puckett said MLB scouts first began taking notice of him last summer during the Northwoods competition, a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of the top college players from North America and beyond.
“Scouts were there to watch another player but then they saw me pitch. Later there was another summer showcase of the top 100 prospects in the Northwoods and I got invited to that. But it really started to pick up around the pro day in the fall. After that I started getting interest from a lot of different teams. Toward the beginning of the spring, several scouts came out to watch me and then I knew I had a pretty good shot at the draft,” said Puckett.
Becoming a major league player has been a dream of Cody’s since he was a child. “I remember watching the Little League World Series and Major Leaguers play. Its always something I told myself I’m going to do one day. I have always dreamed about it since I was probably five years old or ever since I could walk and know what baseball is,” Cody continued.
Puckett said as the draft began this week, a couple of teams contacted him but he became a bit discouraged as nothing panned out right away. “I was kind of thinking of being drafted in the 15th to 25th rounds but on Tuesday I got a call from the Phillies in the 8th round saying they were going to take me in the 9th or 10th round. I was kind of disappointed though when they never called back. On Wednesday I got a call from the Royals and they made me an offer but right after I got off the phone with the Royals, the Oakland A’s called me and congratulated me on being drafted,” said Puckett.
The left hander, was selected by the A’s in the 30th round with the 861st pick on Wednesday.
While his goal is to make the majors, Cody said it would be nice to get some playing time in his home state with the Nashville Sounds, a minor league baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics.
“I know the Nashville Sounds are their Triple-A team so that would be pretty cool If I made it to that level in my home state. That would be nice,” he said.
Although he would have liked to have been taken higher in the draft, Cody said he is pleased with this opportunity. “It would have been nice to have been a top ten rounder but really I just want the opportunity to prove myself and make the most of it and hopefully I can advance to the minor league system and make it to the majors,” Puckett said.
“I appreciate all the support from the people back home and hopefully I can make you proud,” he concluded.
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