Panthers rookie Scirrotto has baseball backup plan

MIKE CRANSTON

The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – One of nearly two dozen undrafted rookies with Carolina, Anthony Scirrotto faces long odds to make the Panthers’ regular-season roster.

Only the former Penn State safety has a fallback plan: professional baseball.

Sure, Scirrotto hasn’t played competitively since he was a power-hitting high school shortstop four years ago. But it didn’t stop the Kansas City Royals from taking him last week in the 50th and final round of the draft.

“This is my first priority, I want to play football,” Scirrotto said after Monday’s offseason workout with the Panthers. “But I look at (baseball) as a business opportunity.”

How Scirrotto got drafted in baseball and not football is a story that involves a pulled hamstring, a scout who got a bigger job, a high school coach who became a police detective but kept his baseball connections and a round of golf.

via Panthers rookie Scirrotto has baseball backup plan | AP | 06/15/2009.