Chase Headley has spent his entire career in the San Diego Padres organization. There was a time, however, when the third baseman believed his major league journey would go through Boston.
Headley, who was selected by the Padres in the second round of the 2005 draft, recently told MLB.com’s Corey Brock that he actually believed the Red Sox were going to draft him before San Diego pulled the trigger.
“If we were guessing, I would say that I thought I would have ended up with the Red Sox, since they had a ton of picks early in that draft and we had a lot of contact with them,” Headley said.
The Red Sox had five of the first 47 picks in the 2005 draft. Padres general manager Josh Byrnes, who was the Red Sox’s assistant GM at the time, said Boston considered the University of Tennessee product before settling on its other selections.
“He was a guy we had a lot of debate about,” Byrnes said. “I sort of went out of the way with Chase, and I sat down and talked with him, to get a feel for him. I was impressed.”
Headley, who turns 30 in May and is set to become a free agent next offseason, has evolved into a nice player for the Padres. The Red Sox nabbed Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz in the 2005 draft, though, so don’t expect to hear anyone in Boston complain too much about how things turned out.
