Baseball America has a nice article up about how well Matt Szczur has progressed so far in his young career. He was drafted in the 5th round in 2010 and after giving up football altogether the Cubs signed him to a $1.4 million contract and added him to their 40-man roster. He's rated as the 64th best prospect in baaseball by Baseball America. The article is for subscribers only so I'll quote just a little bit. I will say the one thing I notice so far about this year is how much he's improved his walk rate. Once he gets on he can do some damage on the bases.
Because he split time in college between the diamond and the gridiron, there has been the sense since he was drafted that Szczur needs to make up for lost time in terms of developing his baseball skills.
"The biggest thing is just continuing to improve his hitting approach like he's doing and just get more experience at all the outfield positions," Daytona manager Brian Harper said. "He definitely can play center field, there's no question, but he'll get more innings in left and right just for experience purposes."