Lovegrove Signs Baseball Contract With Cleveland

College will have to wait for Kieran Lovegrove.

The Mission Viejo High pitcher who had planned to begin his secondary education at Arizona State in the fall is instead going to major in baseball.

Major League Baseball.

Lovegrove, a third-round draft choice earlier this month by the Cleveland Indians, signed with the Tribe and has already reported to the team in Goodyear, AZ, according to his dad.

"He's ready to start his baseball career," Keith Lovegrove indicated in an email.

Lovegrove seems to have a world of potential. He has major league size and a live arm. Only one other player in Mission Viejo High history had been chosen higher than Lovegrove, and that was catcher Dave Schmidt, who was drafted 39th overall by the Red Sox in the second round of the 1975 daft.

Lovegrove stands 6 feet 4 inches, 185 pounds, and after he was drafted 110th overall he indicated that he might be willing to forgo ASU in favor of MLB.

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Teams had until July 13 to sign players selected in the first-year draft, but Lovegrove was hardly an issue.

The right-hander was 8-4 with a 2.35 earned-run average in 2012, helping Mission win the Sea View League title. He was the winning pitcher in the first round of the Southern Section Division 2 playoffs against West Hills Chaminade, but was beat up for eight runs—all earned—in a 17-2 quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Garden Grove Pacifica. Absent that outing, his ERA would have been 1.67.

No doubt, signing a big league contract will help put the Pacifica game out of his mind.

He routinely throws in the 90 mph range and can reportedly hit 95 mph, Lovegrove struck out 93 in 77 1/3 innings, walked 43 and hit 20 batters; opponents batted .198 against him.

Baseball America had Lovegrove ranked as the 52nd right-handed pitcher available in the draft, and the 131st player overall.