McElroy Goes From The Diamond To The Hardwood

By Connor Tomko, OSU Athletics

STILLWATER – Cody McElroy had dreams of playing professional baseball.

Those dreams were realized when he got the coveted phone call from the Atlanta Braves in 2014.

"Baseball I worked with my whole life and that day I got drafted, I can't even put that into words, hearing your name called and watching that on the TV," McElroy said. "That was a really awesome experience."

A 19th round draft pick, McElroy spent 2014 playing rookie league ball with Danville Braves and Class-A ball with the Rome Braves, as well as spending 2015 with the Rome Braves.

However, after just two seasons of baseball, McElroy had a change of heart. He wanted that one last chance to play college basketball.

"I had been playing baseball my whole life. I knew I just had just one chance to come back and play basketball with the NCAA," McElroy said. "They have a five-year time clock and that clock was ticking. I knew that if I wanted to do it, it was now or never."

The decision to play basketball led him to Oklahoma State, where he walked onto the team this summer. McElroy says that his baseball experience was a deciding factor in him making the team.

"That's kind of what Coach [Travis] Ford said when we first talked," McElroy said. "He knew I'd been through a similar schedule, he knew I knew the commitment it took, so he was comfortable bringing me on because he knew I could handle all that it entails."

McElroy also had a very unique college experience. In the three years he spent playing college baseball, he spent each year at a different school. Switching schools every year helped him fit right in to the Cowboy basketball squad.

"From day one they were very open to having me. I fit in with a lot of them, made some really close friends already," McElroy said. "It didn't take any time to mold in and be a part of the team."

McElroy was a two-sport standout at Chattanooga High School in Frederick, Okla., excelling in both baseball and basketball. But after being out of basketball for four and a half years, McElroy has to rediscover his basketball skillset.

"All those things, dribbling, your jump shot, all that is a little bit rusty. But I think the toughest thing is conditioning because baseball and basketball conditioning is completely different," McElroy said. "So it takes you a week or two to back into basketball shape and get running and doing all those things. But once I got that under my belt I think things started to come around."

To make the transition back to basketball easier, McElroy says he will try and bring some of his baseball mentalities to his game.

I think definitely the footwork in baseball has helped me a lot. Also because I was a middle infielder, so you have to have good footwork," McElroy said. "Also the baseball mentalities, being a grinder, playing hard, getting after it, not being afraid to dive on loose balls things like that have carried over and I think that's helped me a lot too."

McElroy said that leaving baseball was the tough, but hasn't ruled out to a return to the game he loves.

"I've changed schools a lot, but I was always playing baseball, so it wasn't that tough to leave one school and go the other because I was still playing the game I love," McElroy said. "But to set it down and walk away from it and do something completely different was the toughest decision I've ever made."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Related Videos