HOUSTON — Nine years after the Cardinals took their greatest draft success story in the same round, the organization selected one of the most fascinating stories of the draft in today’s 13th round.

Mitch Harris, an otherwise prototype righthander plucked with the 395th overall pick in this year’s MLB First-Year Player Draft, cannot be sure when or if he’ll throw a baseball for the Cardinals.

He has a prior commitment.

The righthander just graduated from the United States Naval Academy, and he already been assigned to the USS Ponce. According to The Annapolis Capital, the ensign is due to report June 16. Harris told the paper:

“I want to fulfill my commitment to the fullest, just in a slight different way,” Harris said. “If I were allowed to take some time off and play this summer, I’d come back in September and work full-time on the ship.”

There is a rule in place called the Alternative Service Option, which permits for some alternate scheduling of required active duty. A pair of West Point grads followed their NFL draft selection earlier this year. But as covered in many articles about Harris as the draft approached, the Secretary of Navy has suspended the Alternative Service Option during war. Academy grads are bound to five years of active duty after graduation.

Harris has the build and the stuff of a much higher pick. It’s the rank that drops him.

Harris is a 6-foot-4, 220-pound righthander who has blossomed in the past couple years with Navy’s baseball team. He reportedly throws a fastball in the mid-90s and he dominated this past season. He had 12 strikeouts per nine innings pitched and an ERA less than 1.90.

The Washington Post recently ran a lengthy profile on Harris, capturing what it called the pitcher’s “paradox”: “The Navy made Harris’s professional baseball dream possible, but his commitment to higher duty may take it away.”

He was also the subject of a lengthy pre-draft feature in ESPN Magazine (the photo at the left is from that article).  In the article, he talks about arriving at Annapolis with an 80-mph and nothing to float his dreams of playing baseball. Now that he has grown into his frame and can hang pro potential on it, he has to figure out way to serve his commitment to the Navy and pursue his pro aspirations. Atlanta drafted him last year in the 24th round knowing there was little chance of signing him out of Annapolis. And this season, Baseball America ranked him as the second best college senior available in the draft.

From an excellent story about Harris and his situation in Thursday’s Virginia-Pilot:

Like the rest of Mitch Harris’ 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame, his gifted right arm belongs to the Navy. … After today’s Major League Baseball Draft, Harris and his 94 mph fastball also could be property of a big league club. Scouts say he has the talent to be taken in the third or fourth round.

Therein lies the conflict. Were he a civilian, Harris, 22, simply would sign a contract and report to a minor league club. As a naval officer facing a five-year commitment, his situation is more complicated and is shaping up as a test case for a branch of the service historically reluctant to grant special privileges to aspiring pro athletes.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen, to be completely honest,” Harris said Monday from his parents’ home in Maryland. “I plan on signing.”

The Cardinals appear willing to help and assist Harris in anyway they can. The club does have an interesting — and new — connection to the Navy. Assistant general manager John Abbamondi, hired this past winter, served nine years in the U.S. Navy as a naval flight officer. According to his team bio he flew 40 mission over Iraq and was twice a recipient of the Navy Air Medal. Before coming to the Cardinals, Abbamondi’s hefty resume included time at MLB main office, where he helped author the current collective bargaining agreement.

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