Doyle: Former OHL Defenceman to MLB Draft?

A former member of the Mississauga IceDogs could be hearing his name called in a June draft, but it won't be the NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa.

21-year-old Adam Abraham is the starting third baseman for the University of Michigan Wolverines baseball team and is expected to be chosen in the upcoming Major League Baseball Draft. But before suiting for Michigan, he played two seasons on the IceDogs blueline, including being a member of their Eastern Conference Championship team in 2004.

After two years in Mississauga he accepted a baseball scholarship to Michigan. As of May 24th he had started all 57 games this season, hitting .324 with 7 HR and 52 RBI. He has also done a little bit of pitching, appearing in five games on the mound allowing eight hits and three runs in 5 2/3 innings.

"He's got a confidence about him that the great ones have," U-M coach Rich Maloney told the Detroit Free Press. "He competes. His uniform's always dirty. He's just a gamer."

Abraham's baseball career was left uncertain after his high school athletic association decided his OHL contract made him ineligible to be a high school student-athlete. But while back home during one summer he was offered the scholarship, and the rest is history.

"The opportunity to get an education and play baseball at the same time was huge," he said. "I loved baseball growing up, and I always hoped that I could maybe do this one day. I thought it was the right time and a perfect fit."

For more on this, and an injury he recovered from while playing for the IceDogs, check out the Detroit Free Press.

tdoyle@loosepucks.com