Here is a little sneak peak from my book that is almost finished!! I will keep everyone posted on the status. Enjoy!

Final exams were taking place at school on draft day, but somehow they didn’t seem all that important just now.

My sister wasn’t allowed to escape school, so it was my parents and me, along with a couple of local reporters. It was a Tuesday, June the fourth to be exact, and the baseball draft was kicking off in New York at 1 pm EDT. For us, that meant it would begin at 10 am.

Waiting for the whole thing to start felt like being stuck for something to say to your prom date’s Dad while she messes around getting ready upstairs. It was sheer torture.

When 10 o’clock finally rolled around I was going so crazy that I was about five cans short of a six pack (totally kidding). The butterflies in my stomach felt more like a flock of sparrows, and I was so nervous I was sweating up a lake. I didn’t feel real, if that makes any sense.

Pittsburgh was up first, and they chose a right handed pitcher from Ball State by the name of Bryan Bullington. His trademark was pinpoint control, and a lot of people had him listed as the best pitching prospect in the 2002 baseball draft.

Tampa Bay had the second pick. There were a few last-minute rumors that they might take me, but it was considered a long shot at best. When Tampa announced their choice, it was B.J. Upton, the highly-regarded shortstop from Virginia Prep.

No surprise there. Now it was Cincinnati’s turn.

All of us were hardcore white-knuckled by now, absolutely senseless with anticipation. There was more than a good chance Cinci would follow through and pick me third, but nothing was official until they made it so. And my dad and I were well aware that the Reds front-office staff was by no means in complete agreement about whether Kazmir or Gruler would make the best choice.

When at last it was time for the Reds to decide, the announcement came live over the internet on our computer:

“With the third pick of the Major League draft, the Cincinnati Reds select player number 231567, Christopher Gruler, out of Liberty High School.”

The dream had just now become a reality. All I could do was turn around, look at my parents, and say, “Holy shit!”

Now it was official. We all went crazy at first, but then crazy turned into genuine shock for me. My dad was completely quiet.. My mom started to cry.

The reporters snapped picture after picture while the shock, the speechlessness and the crying gave way to screams of uncontrolled joy. I could not believe all of this. It was like something out of a movie, one that I was starring in against all odds.

When it was over, at least 10 of the Reds’ top executives called me, including GM Jim Bowden himself. Bowden and Keith Chatman, the Reds’ local scout for my area, did an interview over the phone with me. I didn’t know what the hell to say, so I pretty much let them tell me how excited they were to have me as part of the Reds’ organization.

Well, the feeling was definitely mutual.

There were congratulations and best wishes and welcome to the Reds sprinkled all over the infield by all of the guys that called. It was a kind of graduation all in itself; kind of like going from being a kid to being a man in the space of less than an hour.

Over the course of the day, there had to be 500 people that came through our house. Friends, locals, reporters, camera crews, you name it. The phone rang nonstop, and the whole day became a blur as the reality that I was now a professional baseball player began to sink in.

There would be a total of 1,482 players chosen in the 2002 first-year player draft, and the Reds picked me third. All of the sacrifices that my family and I had made were finally paying off. We were about to kick off a journey that most people would die for, and it put me on top of the world.

Nothing could stop me if I was on top of the world, right?

Obviously things didn’t turn out how I anticipated but I felt it was the right thing to do to tell my story to other aspiring athletes who want to make it in the professional ranks. I’m excited for the book to be finished and feel that it will be a great prospective from all of the angles I have experienced, truthfully. We should have the book competed and published roughly by early December.