After signing his first pro contract yesterday, worth nearly $3 million, Niskayuna graduate Garrett Whitley will head to the Gulf Coast League affiliate of the Rays to start his professional baseball career.

Whitley was on the field yesterday at "The Trop," hanging out with Rays players and taking batting practice. We have footage of his first swings here.

Today, we brought in Steve Carney of 620 WDAE in Tampa (also with ties to the Capital Region!) to talk about the deal from a financial perspective, what his first impressions of Whitley were, and what his route to the majors looks like.

Carney said that the GCL is the starting point for most 18-year-olds who are drafted domestically, but there is a small chance that Whitley could end up in the New York-Penn League with the Hudson Valley Renegades at the end of the season.

The Rays now have two Capital Region products in the system in Whitley and Maple Hill graduate Jaime Schultz (AA).

Carney wrote a piece today on his first meeting with Whitley, and he also got some quotes from former Ray Rocco Baldelli, who was also a HS draft pick of the Rays out of the Northeast, and now works as the Rays first-base coach.

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