SPOKANE – The Spokane Indians might have wrapped up their 2009 campaign Sunday night at Avista but you can be sure the season is far from over for former Washington State standout Jared Prince.
An injury might have sidetracked his career in college but now Prince is doing everything he can to get better and get back to his All-American form.
“He definitely has a great work ethic, he works hard and even when he's not the guys you're talking to, he's always right around the corner just kind of paying attention, always trying to learn something,” Indians Manager Tim Hulett said.
It's the same work ethic he showed at Washington State when an injury almost derailed his very promising career.
“I'd throw one inning and it would be lights out, really good, I would sit down, then I would come out and my arm wouldn't only hurt really bad, but I would lose 5-10 miles an hour," Prince said.
The freshman All-American played his entire sophomore season with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, an injury he didn't know about until the season was over.
“The first thing I thought was I am going to overcome this bad season, and this isn't going to be a hiccup, I'm going to bounce back and no matter what people say I'm going to overcome this," he said.
And Prince did just that although it took longer than he hoped. He played while rehabbing his junior season then helped lead the Cougs to the NCAAs his senior year.
“To have a good year and to have all the guys I grew up in the program with have real good years was really exciting, really rewarding," Prince said.
“The report was that he was an outfielder, real hard nosed guy, a team player, knows how to play the game, a smart player," Tim Hulett said.
The Texas Rangers selected Prince in the 34th round of this year’s MLB draft and he spent the season with Tim Hulett's tribe hitting .283 while playing three different positions. But for the kid who once played for Team USA that's not good enough, and he'll work as hard as it takes to get back to where he wants to be.
“My effort was always there. After I had surgery I was on a mission to get back, then the next year, the same thing, nothing has changed, I've always had that, the vision of getting back to form,” Prince said.
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