By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Former Jacksonville Red Devils baseball and football standout D’Vone McClure signed with the Cleveland Indians on Friday and reports to the Arizona League today.
McClure, who graduated from Jacksonville in May, was drafted in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball draft on June 5, and received a signing bonus of $765,000.
“I’m just really excited,” McClure said Friday afternoon. “This is what you work hard for. This is what you dream of. I just want to give God the glory and move forward and do my best.”
McClure signed an NCAA national letter of intent with the University of Arkansas in November and rumors were spreading rapidly on Thursday that McClure had turned down the Indians and would be a Hog. McClure doesn’t know how that rumor began.
“I wasn’t saying that,” McClure said. “That’s just rumors that get started somehow, but I never told anyone anything like that.”
McClure attended a Major League mock camp with other prospects last summer and was projected as a mid-teen round pick when the 2012 high-school season began.
McClure impressed scouts with his progress this spring and became an early-round prospect midway through the high school season.
At pick No. 143, McClure was drafted slightly lower than his projection, which was mid-to-late third round, but his signing bonus was still more than double the pick value for his draft slot, which is set by MLB. The pick value for the 143rd selection is set at $314,000.
