{"id":6129,"date":"2012-03-28T16:58:01","date_gmt":"2012-03-28T16:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nsr-inc.com\/blog\/?p=6129"},"modified":"2012-03-28T16:59:36","modified_gmt":"2012-03-28T16:59:36","slug":"patrick-omalley-still-chasing-his-passion-in-baseball-following-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/patrick-omalley-still-chasing-his-passion-in-baseball-following-graduation\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick O’Malley still chasing his passion in baseball following graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"

NSR standout’s dreams coming true after all<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Patrick O'Malley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former NSR<\/strong>\u00a0baseball prospect,\u00a0Patrick O’Malley<\/strong>, grew up just knowing he was going to play second\u00a0 base for the Florida Marlins.\u00a0 That was his dream.\u00a0 Somewhere along the line, though, that dream faded.\u00a0 But the Ormond Beach native’s love for the game never wavered.\u00a0 That’s why, throughout this spring training, the two-time Daytona News-Journal\u00a0All-Area First-team selection has worked as an intern for the Washington\u00a0 Nationals.\u00a0 No regular pay, a 90-minute commute, the opportunity to clean up stadium\u00a0 bathrooms and countless other odd jobs around Space Coast Stadium was an offer\u00a0 too good for O’Malley to refuse. In fact, he considers himself lucky to have\u00a0 gotten his foot in the door of professional baseball.<\/p>\n

“I hated leaving the game when I was done with college,” O’Malley said while\u00a0 the Nationals hosted the Houston Astros on Monday afternoon. “Like every (young\u00a0 baseball player), it was my dream to play (professionally). I look back, and I\u00a0 had a nice high school career and college career.”<\/p>\n

O’Malley was a standout second baseman at Father Lopez and played four years\u00a0at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala.\u00a0 After graduating with a marketing degree,\u00a0 he joined his father, Pat, working in furniture sales. But he felt that\u00a0 something was missing, and now was the time to do something about it.<\/p>\n

“I missed being around baseball,” the 25-year-old said. “I wanted to give it\u00a0 a shot off the field.”<\/p>\n

So when a friend got an internship with the Nationals, O’Malley asked if the\u00a0 team had room for one more. It just so happened they did.\u00a0 So throughout spring training, whether the Nationals have a home game or not,\u00a0 O’Malley has reported to the ballpark with a smile on his face.<\/p>\n

“I’m willing to work from the bottom up,” O’Malley said. “I understand that\u00a0 you have to work your way up, especially in baseball. I’ve talked to people in\u00a0 the business who told me their first job was picking up garbage.”<\/p>\n

Yes, O’Malley does that, too — pick up garbage around the stadium — but\u00a0 he’s also gotten to learn much about ballpark and clubhouse operations that\u00a0 could help him get an entry-level job working in minor league baseball.\u00a0 Interning is almost a must these days to get into the business side of\u00a0 baseball.<\/p>\n

“I think most people who now work in baseball have been an intern,” said Jon\u00a0 Tosches, manager of Florida operations for the Nationals. “And once you get an\u00a0 internship, it’s pretty much what you make of it. I think Pat has made the most\u00a0 of it. We give him a lot to do now because we trust him.”<\/p>\n

O’Malley’s background in baseball and willingness to work have allowed the\u00a0 Nationals to put him to work around the major league players, Tosches said.<\/p>\n

“You can tell he’s been around baseball, and that helps,” Tosches said. “He’s\u00a0 helped out a lot on the visiting clubhouse side.”<\/p>\n

There have been plenty of moments this spring that have made it worth the\u00a0 effort, O’Malley said. From assisting stadium guests to moving baseball\u00a0 equipment from the bus to clubhouse, there’s always something to keep him on the\u00a0 move.\u00a0 O’Malley conceded he hasn’t completely given up swinging a bat, however, and\u00a0 a couple of times he’s given into temptation while doing one of his intern\u00a0 duties — blowing out the batting cages.<\/p>\n

“I’ve taken a few swings in the cage when nobody’s looking,” he admitted with\u00a0 a smile.<\/p>\n

So as Major League Baseball teams wind down their spring training in Florida,\u00a0 interns like O’Malley hope for a job opportunity in pro baseball.<\/p>\n

“It’s definitely been a cool experience,” O’Malley said. “I definitely want\u00a0 to get a job in baseball. I’ll keep on working at it.”<\/p>\n

Patrick’s NSR scout was North Central Florida AD, Dave Johnson<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 This article was written by Shawn Kernan, a staff writer for the Daytona News-Journal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NSR standout’s dreams coming true after all Former NSR\u00a0baseball prospect,\u00a0Patrick O’Malley, grew up just knowing he was going to play second\u00a0 base for the Florida Marlins.\u00a0 That was his dream.\u00a0 Somewhere along the line, though, that dream faded.\u00a0 But the Ormond Beach native’s love for the game never wavered.\u00a0 That’s why, throughout this spring training, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6129"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6132,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6129\/revisions\/6132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}