William Patrick Watkins (born September 2, 1972) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player who played outfield for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

and

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

Early life

Watkins had planned on playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

after graduating from

Garner Magnet High School Garner Magnet High School (GMHS) is a comprehensive public high school in Garner, North Carolina, United States, a city southeast of Raleigh. The school was founded as Garner Senior High School (GSHS), which graduated its first class in 1969. Gar ...

, and had even talked to their coach,

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former American football, football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often ...

, about playing under him. However, when Spurrier left to coach at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

and the coach who replaced him was not interested, Watkins had to change his plan. He went to

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

to play baseball after his high school coach recommended him to the baseball coach there. At East Carolina, Watkins was an All-American and was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 1st round (32nd pick) of the

1993 Major League Baseball Draft The 1993 Major League Baseball draft began with first round selections on June 3, 1993. Alex Rodriguez was selected first overall by the Seattle Mariners. Other notable draftees included Chris Carpenter, Torii Hunter, Jason Varitek, Scott Rolen, ...

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Major league career

Watkins made his major league debut on September 9, against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. Watkins played parts of two more seasons in the majors, with the Reds and with the Rockies.

External links

Pat Watkins: Keeping Life in Perspective 1972 births Living people Cincinnati Reds players Colorado Rockies players Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from North Carolina East Carolina Pirates baseball players Billings Mustangs players Winston-Salem Spirits players Winston-Salem Warthogs players Chattanooga Lookouts players Indianapolis Indians players Carolina Mudcats players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Toledo Mud Hens players Omaha Golden Spikes players Garner Magnet High School alumni People from Garner, North Carolina Sportspeople from Wake County, North Carolina {{US-baseball-outfielder-1970s-stub

Early life

Major league career

See also

External links