Yesterday, some of the most promising names in baseball learned where they would start their professional careers. But one prospect—Luke Heimlich, pitcher for the Oregon State Beavers—wasn’t called.
The Former Gatorade Player of the Year showed that he had the skillset to be a power pitcher at the next level. In 2017, Heimlich was dominant, posting an outstanding 0.81 ERA in his junior year, which earned him a place on the watch list for the Golden Spikes Award. This award is given to the best college baseball player in the U.S. He would also be named the Pac-12 Conference Pitcher of the Year in the same season.
Now you might ask, why would such an accomplished player not be selected in the draft?
In Heimlich’s case, it’s because he allegedly molested his niece when he was fifteen.
Heimlich accepted a plea agreement with the prosecutor, pleading guilty and admitting to sexually molesting his 6-year-old niece in court to avoid jail time. Instead, he would be required to register as a sex offender, take classes, write a letter of apology to the 6-year-old, and be placed on probation.
Although this happened when he was 15 years old (now 22), it did not become public until 2017 because Heimlich did not update his sex offender registration.
He would voluntarily leave the team and miss the College World Series before returning to the Beavers this year. Heimlich went 15-1 with a 2.42 ERA in the 2018 season.
Luke has since denied the allegations, saying he only plead guilty to spare his family the trauma of a trial and to resume school so he could keep his baseball career on track.
Featured Image via: Flickr/Oregon State University
