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Norman signs with White Sox

Ben Norman signed wtih the White Sox.
Ben Norman signed wtih the White Sox.

Former Iowa five year starting OF Ben Norman officially signed an MLB contract with the Chicago White Sox yesterday. He joins 14 other former Hawkeyes in the minor leagues and will await an assignment to one of the Sox minor league organizations. He announced his signing via Instagram.

“If that opportunity presents itself, I can’t wait to get going (with it),” said Ben Norman when I asked him about him potentially getting drafted and playing minor league baseball during in interview late last season.

After that interview took place, Norman would be named a first team All-Big Ten selection after he set career highs in batting average (.306), on-base percentage (.421), home runs (10) and total bases (104). Couple his big offensive year with a great year defensively in the outfield and it looked like returning for a fifth season with the Hawkeyes was going to pay off for Ben.

However, 20 rounds of the July MLB Draft came and went, and 612 draft selections were announced with Norman’s name absent from all of them. He then was not even signed as an undrafted prospect, a route that his teammate Jack Dreyer ended up taking with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I felt that I had a chance to get drafted or signed after the season since I had a pretty good year,” said Norman, but he knew being an older aged prospect that a condensed draft class meant his odds were lower. “It was basically two drafts combined in one year and it was 20 rounds as opposed to the 40 that it used to be…I felt down because I couldn’t do much about it.”

Despite not getting selected in the MLB Draft, Norman decided to keep his baseball career going in the Pioneer League, an independent baseball league that is designated as an “MLB Partner League”, while not being directly affiliated. Ben joined the Great Falls Voyagers and was looking to make an impact that would catch the attention of an MLB club.

“Playing at Great Falls was great…gave me my first look into pro baseball getting into the routine of playing 6 days a week and lifting,” said Norman. “I had a great coach named Tommy Thompson who always made sure I was playing the game the right way. I learned a lot about myself and my own game while playing out there.”

In 40 games for the Voyagers, Norman put together quite the attention-grabbing stat line. 13 home runs, 59 RBIs, .356 batting average, .418 OBP and 110 total bases was enough to catch the attention of the White Sox, who gave Ben the call around Halloween.

“It was an amazing feeling that I couldn’t put into words. I remember tearing up when I got the call because I was like ‘wow this is finally happening’,” said Norman as he detailed the call from the White Sox. “I think going through what I did with almost getting drafted, then going to play out in Great Falls made the feeling that much better when it did happen.”

“I just feel very fortunate and blessed that I got this opportunity…looking forward to putting all I can into this opportunity and maximizing my potential.”

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