I've been bombarded with questions today very similar to the one below, so while I don't really feel like it is my place to say anything but people keep asking me so I might as well put my 2 cents out there.

From John 
City and State: Oakland, CA
Your Question: Shawn,

I read recently that fellow A's prospect Grant Desme recently decided to end his baseball career to join the priesthood. Did you play any with Desme? and what are your thoughts on this decision?.

Love the blog!

John

I had the pleasure of playing with Grant for the first half of the year in Kane County. It doesn't need to be said but Grant was obviously very talented. He had light tower power, good speed and a strong arm. Selfishly I was sad to see him moved up because as a pitcher who gets a lot of fly balls it was nice having a legit 5 tool player in the outfield tracking them down.

The funny thing is that if you ask anyone who played with Grant it was not his talent that stood out but rather his innate ability to lead. Our manager this year in Kane County, Steve Scarsone said it best, “Some of the younger guys were able to feed off of him. That is an important aspect of a player. It’s not necessarily teachable. It’s just something that he naturally has.” I am sure that this is a quality that will serve him very well in his future profession.

A lot of the emails I received were dumbfounded by the decision that Grant made. In essence he was turning down potentially millions of dollars, fame, the chance to play in the show etc (Grant was the MVP of the Arizona Fall League, look at the list of guys who won that award, he was going to play in the show).

I think what a lot of people are missing is that as much of a part of Grant's life was baseball, it by no means defined him. Grant has chosen a selfless path that will last his entire life, making the majors and being famous while nice was not as important as his calling to God. “Either way, if I played in the big leagues and became a Hall of Famer, it’s still going to end. I really started doing some soul-searching of who I was and who I wanted to be. This is where it has led me.” Rather than criticized Grant should be commended for a selfless action, very few among us would be able to make this choice.

I wish Grant the best of luck. Knowing the passion and the work ethic that Grant devoted to baseball leaves me with no doubt that he will make a great Priest someday.