From Oakland A’s to Norbertines: Let's pray for this guy to persevere!

23-Year-Old Ball Player Retires to Priesthood

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This excerpt is from a January 22 story on mlb.com 

OAKLAND -- Grant Desme entered the 2009 season with an injury-prone past. 

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The A's prized prospect exited the season with a head-turning presence, accompanied by a bat that produced 31 home runs and a speedy 6-foot-2 frame that stole 40 bases in Class A ball -- making him the only player in Minor League Baseball to enjoy a 30-30 campaign. 

An exceptional performance and MVP honors in the Arizona Fall League followed, so surely Desme was close to getting a call, most assumed -- if not for a trip to The Show, then at least for an invitation to Spring Training. 

Yet, Desme insists he'd already received the call long before his final at-bat in the fall came and went -- the one that would take him to bigger and better places. 

It just so happens it wasn't what the A's organization -- or anyone else, for that matter -- had in mind. 
The call, Desme announced Friday, came in the form of priesthood in the Catholic church. 
"Last year before the season started, I really had a strong feeling of a calling and a real strong desire to follow it," the 23-year-old said. "I just fought it." 

Thus, Desme chose to play out the season as a test of sorts, "just hoping and praying about it." 
"As the year went on," he said, "God blessed me. I had a better year than I could have imagined, but that reconfirmed my desire because I wasn't at peace with where I was at. I love the game, but I aspire to higher things. 

"I thought, I'm doing well in baseball, but I really had to get down to the bottom of things -- what was good in my life, what I wanted to do with my life. And I felt that while baseball is a good thing and I love playing, I thought it was selfish of me to be doing that when I really felt that God was calling me more, which took me awhile in my life to really trust and open up to it and aim full steam toward Him." 
* * * 

So now, the brave Desme faces what he says is a 10-year path to becoming a priest while studying at St. Michael's Abbey in Orange County beginning in August. 
"It's like I'm re-entering the Minor Leagues," he said. 

To read entire story, Click here.

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