Red Sox right-handed pitching prospect Noah Song’s professional baseball career has been put on hold for at least a year. The Department of Defense has ordered Song, who graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2019, to report to flight school in Pensacola, Fla., by June 26, according to Bill Wagner of the Capital Gazette. The training usually lasts 18 months, per Wagner, who adds that Song will be able to apply for early release by May 2021. However, Wagner hears that it’s atypical for such a request to be granted at the midpoint of training.
A fourth-round pick of the Red Sox last June, the hard-throwing, 23-year-old Song got off to an excellent start in his first action as a pro – albeit over a small sample of just 17 innings. Pitching at the Low-A level, Song logged a minuscule 1.06 ERA with 19 strikeouts against five walks. Song now ranks fifth among Red Sox prospects at FanGraphs, sixth at MLB.com and 10th at Baseball America. He may have been a first-rounder if not for his military committment, per FanGraphs, while MLB.com opines that he was the top senior in his draft class.
In regards to his future, Song wrote in a statement (via Wagner): “I am fortunate to have two ‘Plan As’ in life: I want to serve my country as a naval aviator and play baseball for the Red Sox. I will continue to do all I can to accomplish both, and I sincerely appreciate the support I have received from the Navy and the Red Sox in reaching those goals.”
Vice Admiral Sean Buck, Superintendent of the Naval Academy, wrote, “The Naval Academy is proud of what Ensign Song has accomplished and is hopeful he will achieve his goals as a naval officer and professional baseball player.”
Wow, good for him. These are the fortunate stories we need during a time like this. Good for Song, he’s gonna have a heck of a career.
I know right… he is such a good prospect and he has great talent. He could be one of the next top pitchers in the game while also serving his country.
I know right. He has amazing talent and can be one of the best pitchers in the game while serving his country.
Why is it ‘good for him’? Lol his request to delay his service until after baseball got rejected? I understand it’s good for him that he is so committed to keeping his commitment to the Navy — but in the immediate future he’s been denied the ability to try his luck at a baseball career. at least for another couple of years.
ok but he knew that was a possibility when he went to the naval academy. the denial to try his luck at a baseball career is solely on him.
No, athlete who has professional aspirations should go into a service academy. My brother went to the Air Force Academy and had a mandatory 5 years to serve, so 2 years is getting off easy thank goodness.
If Song’s commitment is only 2 years, it is pretty stupid for the Navy to pay for his flight training only to have him get out of the Navy shortly after finishing Flight School. It is money wasted for the Navy.
Tommy John surgery often holds pitchers out of action for 12 to 18 months, so Song should be able to shake off the rust and come back ok.
RS gambled and I think he will be worth the wait.
Very cool I wish him the best in both of his dreams!!
isnt this old news?
How you can criticize my comments while always being the first to drop drivel like this amazes me.
Probably because you’re a renowned hack on these threads. On the plus side, you’ve been relatively subdued since the Yankees cheated.
Or maybe I should say got caught cheating yet again
The Yankees didn’t cheat dumb dumb. There is no evidence saying that. Idk why you are hating against the team that wasn’t punished for cheating (because they didn’t) rather than the train wreck disturbed Astros who should all be released from the team for what they did.
The Yankees didn’t cheat. There is no evidence saying that. Get some actual facts rather than bias and fallacies and then come back with an opinion. Hate on the teams that were punished for cheating because there was evidence against them like the Astros and your Red Sox
@dynastyinboston It’s sad that you continue to shill for an absolutely disgraced franchise and that you assume everyone who disagrees with you is a Yankees fan. Most people who disagree with you actually just hate cheaters, stolen titles, stolen awards, and idiots.
Really?
A Patriots fan is going to play the “cheaters” card on ANY other team in sports…?
That’s cute.
You know you’re dead wrong right? A judge just ordered case filed unsealed that allegedly prove the Yankees cheated…
@beisbolista It’s par for the course with him. He also called Luis Urias a AAAA player multiple times and always goes into hiding when you call him on it.
you have to pester me everu chance you ger, dont you? yes Urias is a AAAA player. i was actually quite high on him as a prospect, but he’s looked very exposed in several stints in the Majors now. Looks a lot like Brinson with the Crew. give me one of these comments which i didnt back up and ill gladly do so, i cant keep track of every darn comment i put on this site.
@DarkSide830 lol so he is a AAAA player after just 302 major league PA’s at age 22? That’s hilarious! There are tons of players who looked worse than him at the same age or even older and who turned out just fine. Not every prospect can be Fernando Tatis Jr, Ronald Acuña or Juan Soto. In fact, most of them aren’t. You’d think Preller would have learned after what happened with Anthony Rizzo but I guess some people are incapable of learning.
Luis Urias will be an All Star. And when he is, you will be hearing from me.
ive said it once and i will say it again, i dont comment on this site to say obvious things like “Mike Trout is the best player in baseball” or things like that. i come here to really provide my perspective on arguments where i think my imput is unique or conversation worthy. yes, i could go call someone like Corban Joseph a AAAA player, but we all know that already. Im meerly claiming that, with the ML sample size given, i have doubts about his performance going forward.
Actually what you are saying is that a player’s future is set in stone after 302 PA’s at age 22. PA’s during which he actually improved from month to month even with Andy Green’s disgusting misuse of him.
my point is it was reported some time ago that he would miss time for this. the exact situation with his training/deployment wasnt known, but that he would miss ~2 years or more was already known.
Yeah you’re correct. I think this article/announcement is more or less the final outcome of what was an initial petition to see if he could delay his Navy commitment. For a time it looked like that may have been a possibility — but I guess this is formally acknowledging that that won’t be the case. But you are correct this was known/or at least assumed for some time now – though exact details/timeline hadn’t been firmly established yet.
Beisbolista the closeted Yankees fan!
Like a gay man with a girlfriend; he claims to like the D’backs!
Dark – it is not old news, because it gives the release of service date, which is when he can return to baseball. My brother graduated from the Naval Academy and his required service was 5 years!!
Can’t believe the childish b. S. is over half the comments……
yeah, I know the specific stuff is new, just figured that he would miss this much time was already known
So what?! It is an update with facts for some who knew, and new content for those who had never heard about it (like me). I can understand people wanting to complain about the quality of the writing or research, the veracity (though it is a ~rumors~ site, or the (lack of) copy editing, but I will never understand the people that harp on the “newsworthiness” of the content.
What a great kid, hope he gets both dreams.
Best of luck to him and success in both careers
Clearly a ruse to fly around Fenway stealing signs – look for the steward with ping pong bats and semaphore signals.
I’m amazed MLB can’t see through this ruse – after all he was drafted during the Cora administration – and it’s not as if MLB has anything else to worry about at the moment…
Shameful indeed.
I’m hoping this is a joke, even if it isn’t very funny
Good this man. Much respect. I hope he succeeds and has a long career in both
Get that pilot license! Go fly as a commercial pilot in off time
I don’t know what the requirements are today but when I was in the service way back when I worked in Air Operations and for pilots a magic number was 2,000 hours of flight time. With that number, they could think about resigning their commission and applying to an airline.
This must mean we’re going to war. /S, I hope.
The only war that is coming is the second Civil War.
Conservative vs the morons
We all know which side you would have been on in the first Civil War
This isn’t reddit, creep.
I don’t see the Navy letting him go. Flight school is long (18 months), so I don’t see the Navy spending that kind of time and money on him to just let him bounce. Usually you have to make a 5 year commitment to get flight school.
Maybe the Navy will let him serve in the Navy Reserve and he can do the majority of his duty in the off season ?
The military and baseball are not very compatible. The Navy does not want to spend time and money and lose him, and the Red Sox can’t want to sign him long term if he is going to fly a lot (Thurman Munson) or possibly get hurt in a possible combat situation…
They had a certain legend and HOF’er who flew a lot. . . Through two different wars.
It’s possible.
John Glenn’s wing man. Indeed.
Agreed. After this commitment, the Navy would not want to see Noah Song going back to baseball anytime soon.
what, so he is indentured or something? this is how we treat our veterans?
I think that’s the exchange that’s agreed upon by people attending armed forces academies – in exchange for your education, you serve your country in the armed forces. I suppose indentured is not inaccurate, but prob not the word I’d use. Committed, maybe?
Contractually obligated.
Coaster- commitment is usually 5 years…..curious why have him start flight school at all…..my guess is that is talk and they will let him go sooner
My guess is he serves 2 years in some capacity and the Navy finds a reason to not follow through with flight school….my brother failed at the beginning of flight school, because he barfed every time the plane did a roll…….
Hmm jets or baseball? Lucky bugger.
I should add… Good for him and thanks for your service young man.
As a musician, I Noah Song or two.
In other words …
This sucks for the kid. I mean I get that he committed and he wants to serve as well… But they should’ve made an exception for him to let him try his luck at baseball for a bit — he’s definitely not the kid of guy that would ever go back on his word and not fufill his navy commitment so they shouldn’t be forcing him to do it now — he seems to have a great head on his shoulders and I’m sure would be happy to serve after playing baseball — whether that was in the majors or just in the minors for a few years. He seems to have some real talent on the mound and it’s disappointing to see that he won’t even get a real shot again until he’s 25 (or almost 25 years old). I wish him the best and hope he does eventually get to try to have a baseball career because in limited professional action last year — he looked like he has the potential to be a special player.
Best case scenario he ends up a big league ball player. Worst case he can fly the Red Sox team jet. Both sound pretty cool.
Good for him sounds like he can either be a baseball player or a cake eater.
Wow, what a talent and what an incredibly hard worker! I love my country, so I love to hear about Americans achieving greatness. I am rooting for Mr. Song!
He only needs to serve 2 years to fulfill his commitment to the Navy. It’s just too bad that the rule they recently passed (deferred service time for pro athletes) didn’t apply to him because he graduated before it was ratified. Now he’s going to be a 25 year old, minor league rookie for Boston next time we see him. Unfortunately, that really limits his upside and potential career earnings as well. I’d say it’s 50/50 on if he decides to come back to baseball given his age. With that said, I wish him the best of luck in whatever career he chooses.