The Rangers had selected Cone in the second round of the draft. Cone and Taylor are friends, but their collision March 6 in a game again...
The Rangers had selected Cone in the second round of the draft.
Cone and Taylor are friends, but their collision March 6 in a game against Florida State left Taylor paralyzed. According to The Dallas Morning News, he is unlikely to walk again and is considered a tetraplegic, because the paralysis affected all his extremities.
He is being treated at Atlanta's Shepherd Center, the newspaper reported.
Meantime, Rangers director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg told ESPNDallas.com that his team was trying to do something nice, though had Taylor not been injured he likely had the talent to play professionally: "He's a great kid, and he's going through a terrible time in his life and we thought this would be something to uplift him. I've seen the kid play since high school, he was a great player at Georgia."
Taylor's college coach, David Perno, echoed what Fagg said, according to ESPN.com: "J.T. is definitely a player worthy of getting drafted. He's been a big part of our program, and we are all very excited for him. When I talked to him after he got the call, he was in the middle of his rehabilitation work, laughing and having a good time and was thrilled to be drafted."
He prefaced that comment to the website by saying, "This was truly a classy move and a great gesture on the part of the Texas Rangers organization."
Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2011-06-08/texas-rangers-draft-paralyzed-georgia-player?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk2%7C69272#ixzz1OkBQlVTL
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