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Just three weeks ago, Frederick High graduate Billy Gross expected to return to West Virginia University for his senior baseball season. He was working out with the Moutaineers' strength coach and getting ready to take summer classes. But thanks to a rapidly unfolding chain of events, Gross is about to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing professional baseball. Gross said he will sign a free agent contract with the Baltimore Orioles this week, a reward for the good impression the standout pitcher made on scouts over the past 21Ú2 weeks. Gross is flying today to Sarasota, Fla., where he'll meet a team doctor and take a physical. "I'll be signed. If not tomorrow, it's going to be the next day because I want to get out there and start playing," Gross said. Gross said he'd probably play for the Orioles' Gulf Coast League team, the next stage of the head-spinning baseball journey he's taken this summer. "It happened fast," Gross said. "In the last 21Ú2 weeks, this all went down." It all started when Gross got a call from Brunswick High School baseball Roger Dawson, who also serves as a territorial scout for the Baltimore Orioles and runs a semi-pro team called the Brunswick Orioles. Dawson wanted Gross to come back to Frederick County and throw for him. Gross pitched two games for the Brunswick Orioles in June. Dawson liked what he saw and told higher-ups in the Baltimore Orioles' organization about the Frederick grad. Dawson said Gross throws consistently from 90 to 92 mph and tops out at 94. "He definitely hits the numbers you look for at the next level," said Dawson, who also praised Gross' slider and athleticism. Last Tuesday, Gross also attended an open Major League tryout in Hampton, Va. He was simply tagging along with a West Virginia teammate who wanted to try out. "I was like, 'I'll go down with you. Why not? Show them what I can do,'" Gross said. "It turned out well for me." >Out of the hundreds of players who tried out, Gross figured only 25 were invited to stick around. He was one of them, and a Major League scouting bureau scout wrote a report on him that would be circulated to all Major League teams. In the meantime, Dawson arranged to have Gross throw for Orioles scouts at Bachman Park in Glen Burnie on Monday. With a wooden-bat league game going on nearby, Gross threw in the bullpen, giving his all in the most important audition of his career. Baltimore was looking to sign two players, and Gross' performance that night allowed him to be one of them. "I wasn't there for more than 15 minutes," Gross said. "It's good to see a local kid get a shot," Dawson said. Gross enjoyed a fine junior season with the Mountaineers, going 9-4. Still, the right-handed pitcher didn't get talked to by any Major League teams. "I just needed to get a shot. Hopefully, this will turn out pretty well," Gross said. "My parents are happy for me. It's been a dream ever since I was a kid." Getting to fulfill that dream with the hometown team was all-the-more special for the Frederick native. "I've been watching them since I was able to watch TV," Gross said.
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