Being the only frum person at work, I have spent half a day speaking to people about it and asking questions. Some thoughts:
- All halachic shailos and whether you consider him frum or not aside, he's clearly the most observant Jewish person ever drafted.
- Regardless of whether he observes shabbos in accordance with anyone else's standards other than his own, he represents Jews on a national stage, and hopefully his behavior will reflect positively for us. To that end, I care less if he is not shomer shabbos, but more that he is a mensch.
- The odds of any draftee making the majors (even from the earlier rounds) are still slim. If I were his parent, and assuming that the team enabled him to keep "frumkeit" to the standards that I saw fit, I'd be willing to let him sign, and give him two years to play. If he's progressing, great, maybe let him stick it out, if he's not, he can quit and come to college. His signing bonus should be in the order of $600k or so (he was overslotted), enough to support him for the next few years, and maybe some leftover for his house in woodmere if he leaves the MLB to go on to a regular life.
- I find it funny that a lot of the discussion here is about shabbos, what about kashrus, and Jewish living? The D-backs 5 minor league teams (from low to high) are in Scottsdale, Visalia, CA, Hillsboro, OR, Amarillo, TX and Reno, NV. While I imagine each has a somewhat local Chabad house, non of these (short of Scottsdale) are within 3 hours driving from a major Jewish Community. I think it's also safe to suggest that the Chabad houses may not be in walking distance from the stadium. What's he going to eat? Who's he going to date? Is he going to spend shabbos meals alone in his apartment?
- One of the downsides of his choosing to play by walking on shabbos - it certainly impacts other people. As an example, my children played in our local little league. From day one, I made it clear to the coaches, that my boys would not play on shabbos or Yom Tov. The problem was, our neighborhood has a lot of people across the religious spectrum - some people would play on shabbos if the game was within the Eruv and in walking distance, others only if it didn't conflict with shul. Again, I don't judge, but it would make the conversation with the coaches a little different - i.e. -"But Cohen and Schwartz let their kids play on Saturdays if they can walk it...." I imagine parents like me will now have to hear - "But hey, that kid on the D-Backs is Orthodox, and he plays on Saturday, why not you?"
On the lighter side:
- Can we get Mincha in the Bullpen?
- If he's in the bullpen, and we're above in the stands, can he be counted for the minyan?
- Does professional baseball player look good or bad on a Shidduch resume?
- How long before a slumping teammate asks him to 'bless' their bat
