Tracy McGrady is done playing basketball. But the former NBA All-Star isn’t sitting on his hands.
McGrady is eyeing a professional baseball career, according to FOX 26 in Houston. T-Mac currently is working with Arizona Diamondbacks pro scout Scipio Spinks in an attempt to play professional baseball as a pitcher.
Spinks told FOX 26 that McGrady’s initial goal is to sign with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League for the upcoming season. Roger Clemens briefly pitched for the Skeeters in 2012.
According to Spinks, McGrady, who turns 35 in May, throws around 85-86 mph and features a “true slider” with good break. T-Mac apparently also can work both sides of the plate effectively, and Spinks said the seven-time NBA All-Star eventually might reach 90 mph with his fastball.
“If the season starts tomorrow, Tracy McGrady will be able to pitch on that Skeeters team,” Spinks told FOX 26.
McGrady, a two-time NBA scoring champion who announced his retirement from basketball last August, said he always has wanted to play baseball. Spinks confirmed T-Mac’s passion, emphasizing that this attempt to play baseball isn’t a joke.
“His goal is to go out there and pitch, and not just to go out there and pitch, but he wants to pitch competitively, and hopefully he might get picked up on a major league club,” Spinks said. “I don’t know if he’ll make it to the big leagues, but I feel that he’ll play affiliated baseball.”
ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy, who coached McGrady with the Houston Rockets from 2003-2007, revealed T-Mac’s baseball plans during Friday’s Oklahoma City Thunder-Brooklyn Nets broadcast.
Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at @TheRickyDoyle or send it here.
