| Report: Ex-Yank Walling is Close to Quitting Baseball 5/22/01 David Walling, the ace of the Staten Island Yankees pitching staff in 1999, has left his current team, the Norwich Navigators, for "personal reasons". Walling was originally drafted in 1999 as the 27th pick in the first round out of the University of Arkansas. Yesterday, OurYanks.com reported that Walling had announced his retirement. Apparently he changed his mind, for now. Walling will make a decision on whether he wants to continue playing baseball in the next few weeks, his agent Jeff Riolo said on Monday. For now, Walling has been placed on the inactive list which means that he is not injured but he needs time away from his team. If he addresses those "personal reasons" to his satisfaction, Walling could return to the Yankees as early as this summer or next spring. If he does not, he could retire. David Walling had compiled a 3-2 record for Norwich this year with a 5.40 ERA and 24 strikeouts in just 31 innings. He has the distinction of being the first former Staten Island Yankee to reach Triple-A when he made a spot start for the Columbus Clippers earlier this year. He lost that game giving up 5 runs (4 of which were earned) in 6 innnings of work. Back in 1999, Walling was the opening day starter for Our Yanks and he quickly moved up the ladder of pitching propects in the Yankee organization. Last year he split time between Single-A Tampa and Double-A Norwich, winning 12 games. |
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