Amir Wright didn’t want an injury to end his baseball career.
The 2016 Griffith graduate had gone too far and played in too many places to call it quits after a strained hamstring cost him a roster spot this spring.
“I couldn’t go out like that,” Wright said. “That’s just not who I am and how my career’s been set. Then I got an opportunity with the Oilmen, and I had to take it.”
Wright is playing for the Northwest Indiana Oilmen, capitalizing on a rule change in the Northern League to continue his pursuit of a professional career.
The Northern League, formerly known as the Midwest Collegiate League, allows each team to have up to five pro-level players on the roster. Wright, 25, had played seven games with the Oilmen through Monday and was second on the team with a .423 batting average despite feeling like he’s still not in top form.
“First and foremost, I’m trying to get back into the swing of playing baseball every day, just being out here, getting into game shape again,” he said.
Wright completed his college career at Ball State in 2022, when he was second on the team with a .350 batting average in 59 games. Then he went to Maryland to play for the Frederick Keys in the MLB Draft League, where he hit .338 in 37 games.
In January, Wright signed with the Evansville Otters of the independent Frontier League. During an intrasquad game in spring training, however, he strained his right hamstring while legging out a double.
“I played another six innings on it,” Wright said. “But it was hurting when I got back to the locker room.”
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He was released in May. Without a team, Wright said the idea of quitting baseball for good crossed his mind.
“There was a lot of prayer,” he said. “Adversity’s been a staple of my career, and I’ve been able to overcome it. What keeps me going is the drive that I want to finish my career on a high note, No. 1, and No. 2 is that, when I quit, I want to know that I’ve given everything I had to the game.”
Not long after Wright decided to keep going, he said he received a text from Oilmen president and GM Don Popravak about coming back to the team. Wright had played for the Oilmen in 2017 and 2018, although issues with his left elbow limited him to designated hitter during the latter season.
Once Wright learned Adam Enright was the Oilmen’s manager again, he was on board.
“That made it even easier for me to come out here,” Wright said.
Enright looked at Wright as a player who gained a significant confidence boost by finishing his college career with a Division I program.
“Seeing that he could compete with guys at that level showed him that he has a chance to make it and play professional baseball,” Enright said. “And he knows that this is the window for him to do it. There’s a very finite window. It’s kind of now or never for him to go all in.”
Oilmen teammate Chris Baker, 27, is in a similar situation, having returned to the team after being released by the Frontier League’s Windy City ThunderBolts.
“We’ve both played to a point where we’re already knocking at the door,” Baker said. “And once you reach that point, it’s hard to let it go.”
Wright knows how close he has come to a professional career. He said multiple teams contacted him after his release from Evansville and suggested that Wright should call back as soon as he was healthy.
So the ideal outcome for this season, Wright said, is that his career continues beyond it.
“If I get another call, I’ll keep playing,” he said.
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.