UPDATED: Dale Cornstubble selected by Kansas City in MLB Draft

• Tweet
• 

Updated: 6:00 p.m.

At least one Central Michigan baseball player will continue his career at the next level.

Former catcher Dale Cornstubble was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 40th round (pick No. 1199) of the 2010 MLB Draft on Wednesday.

“Me and my dad were sitting in his office and my agent kept telling me it was coming,” Cornstubble said Wednesday afternoon. “The 38th round went by, 39th and it finally happened in the 40th. (We both) had tears in our eyes.”

A native of Homer, Mich., Cornstubble said all the hard work and drives to Grand Rapids for batting practice with old teammates paid off.

“They told me ‘we have you as a catcher and you leave Saturday for Arizona (for mini-camp)’,” he said. “They have three teams … from there, where I go is up to them.”

The 5-foot-9, 195-pound Cornstubble is the 15th player to be drafted since Steve Jaksa took over as coach at CMU in 2003.

Jaksa said he received a text from Cornstubble as soon as his name was announced thanking him.

“I’m really happy for him,” Jaksa said. “They (Kansas City) had a need for a catcher and good guy and they got that. When you have an opportunity to play, that mean’s they’re interested … they like you.”

Cornstubble finished the season third on the team with a .326 batting average with one home run and 45 RBIs, helping lead the Chippewas to a 36-22 overall record and regular season Mid-American Conference championship.