Cowley’s Garrett Benge won’t sign with Indians, headed to Oklahoma State

Garrett Benge is going to do what has worked so well for him in the last year – he’s going to stick with the plan.

The Cowley College freshman third baseman and NJCAA Division I Player of the Year said Tuesday he won’t sign with the Cleveland Indians after being drafted in the 22^nd round of last week’s Major League Baseball Draft, instead opting to play for Oklahoma State.

"Since I was little, I’ve always wanted to play at OSU," said Benge, a Yukon, Okla., native. "They have a great program, and going to a junior college my goal was to play good enough to go (to OSU) … the draft changed things a little bit, but I still figure I can go to OSU and end up in the draft again, play professional ball and someday make it to the bigs. That’s always been my goal.

"I’ve already told (OSU coach Josh) Holliday, so he knows it’s a definite that I’m coming there."

By going to Oklahoma State, the 6-foot, 205-pound Benge won’t be eligible to be drafted again until 2017, per MLB rules. He also could’ve gone back to Cowley to play one more season and been eligible for the 2016 draft.

His only contact with the Indians since last week had been a phone call after he was picked and a follow-up e-mail several days ago.

That he’s even in a position where these type of decisions need to be made represents a sea change from where he was one year ago, when he had one Division I offer, from Arkansas-Little Rock, after his senior season at Yukon High.

"Sure, I’ve thought about how far I’ve come," Benge said. "I thought I would do relatively well at Cowley, I just didn’t think I would put up near the numbers I did. I’m glad to see how far I’ve come."

Benge took the NJCAA by storm in his one season under longtime coach Dave Burroughs. He led the nation in batting average (.502), RBIs (97), on-base percentage (.601) and was second in hits (103).

The Tigers, who came one game short of the NJCAA World Series, went 54-5 with Benge and spent the last month of the season ranked No. 1 in the country.

“I talked to my family quite a bit about (going pro), I talked to Burroughs a lot, I prayed a lot,” Benge said. “The important thing to me was that they were all completely supportive of whatever decision I made. It was clear that they were all behind me 100 percent on whatever I decided to do.”

Benge still has until the July 17 MLB signing deadline to decide on the pros, but he said his mind is completely made up.

“It never even got to talking about money (with the Indians),” Benge said. “I decided on Oklahoma State, and that was it.”

Now, the focus turns back entirely to baseball, where he’s spending the summer with the Brazos Valley (Texas) Bombers in the Lone Star League.

“They actually contacted me during the season to see if I wanted to come down and play,” Benge said. “I did my research on them and it’s a really good program. I’m looking forward to the rest of the summer and then starting school in August.”

This story was originally published June 16, 2015 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Cowley’s Garrett Benge won’t sign with Indians, headed to Oklahoma State."