Patrick Mahomes Lifts Lid Off His Disappointing MLB Draft Experience in 2014: “Detroit Tigers…37th Round”

Kansas City Chiefs superstar and Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes has the NFL world at his feet. But rewind to 2014, and Mahomes was at a crossroads. Baseball was in his blood; his father, Pat Mahomes Sr., enjoyed an 11-year career in the big leagues, and the young Mahomes was a force to be reckoned with on the diamond.

“Yeah, so I was projected to go in the top five-ish rounds,” Mahomes recounts on the iMPAULSIVE podcast. Despite his raw talent, a desire for gridiron glory lingered in his heart. Teams took notice. “They basically ask you how much money it’s going to take for you not to play football… They won’t say it that way, but they’re just like, ‘Come on… If we draft you, we don’t want to waste a draft pick.’”

Patrick Mahomes held his ground, throwing out a number he knew was far too steep to lure him away from the college football path. The bluff worked as the rounds went by, and Mahomes went undrafted. And that’s when the surprise call came.

“‘The Detroit Tigers drafted you,’ in like, I think it was the 37th round or something like that,” Mahomes recalls with a hint of amusement. The Tigers saw an athlete, even if his heart was elsewhere. “They were like, um, ‘We drafted you in the 37th round; we know you’re playing football; we’ll see you in 3 years,’” he said, referring to the mandatory waiting period for college athletes.

Baseball was a part of Patrick Mahomes’ DNA. The junior Mahomes grew up in those iconic Major League clubhouses, rubbing shoulders with the legends of the game—Derek Jeter, A-Rod, the list goes on. As he explains to the media often, his early years were a constant immersion in professional athletics—something that surely set his foundation.

His shortstop days in Texas were a sight to behold. Mahomes even represented his home state at the Junior League World Series in 2010. On the mound? This guy was hitting 90s on the fastball, once throwing a 16-strikeout no-hitter in high school. So, what went wrong?

Patrick Mahomes Slides Home, But Could He Have Hit a Dinger?

The 2014 MLB Draft saw Mahomes commit to Texas Tech, but pro baseball hadn’t given up hope just yet. Late-round picks can be strategic gambles, and the Tigers wanted to get their uniform on this rising star. But Mahomes’ heart was set. He stuck with the Red Raiders, earning a starting quarterback spot and ultimately ditching his baseball cleats to focus solely on the pigskin. And the rest, as they say, is history.

A dazzling NFL career has seen Mahomes rewrite record books. Is he the greatest QB in history? The debate rages. Yet, what’s undeniable is that this superstar could have charted a very different path. As fellow baseball lover iShowSpeed quips to interviewer Logan Paul, “He looks like a baseball player, doesn’t he?” But football had bigger plans.

Could Mahomes’ trademark sidearms and those crazy shovel passes be a lingering echo of his shortstop days? “I’m a baseball player at heart,” Patrick Mahomes confesses, and it shows in the magic he creates under center. Baseball’s loss has been football’s extraordinary gain, it looks like.