Just a day after being cut by the Buccaneers, Brandon Magee reported to the Red Sox's minor league camp on Tuesday to take a shot at the sport that had to take a backseat to football in college.
The 24-year-old Magee, who signed with Boston and attended minor league spring training in 2014, arrived Thursday at the team's Fort Myers, Florida, camp and took a few swings in the cage and threw out to 90 feet.
"He's a strong kid," said Ben Crockett, Boston's director of player development, of the 5-foot-11, 230-pound Magee. "He's really athletic. And certainly you can see why he had success as a football player as well, and why he may continue to have success. He's definitely a strong kid and someone we're looking forward to seeing."
Magee declined to talk, saying he wants a few days to get acclimated.
"We'll probably take it slow," Crockett said.
Magee, projected to be an outfielder, hit. 103 in 27 games over three seasons at Arizona State and was drafted by three MLB teams: the Tampa Bay Rays (2008, 29th round), Oakland A's (2011, 21st round) and Red Sox (2012, 23rd round). He didn't sign with either the Rays or A's, but took a $7,500 signing bonus from the Red Sox.
Last spring, after signing with the Bucs, he spent extended spring training with the Red Sox. Magee was recovering from a torn pectoral muscle suffered while playing on special teams for the Browns. In his six weeks in Fort Myers, he spent most of the time rehabbing, never entering any games, and not even taking batting practice until near the end.
"He's a tremendous person, in all of our exposure to him," Crockett said. "Here last summer, [it was] a challenging situation where he was really wanting to do baseball activities, but wasn't physically ready to do that due to a previous injury, and did a great job staying in routine, working really hard, bringing energy every day in a situation that was challenging. Any player having to rehab an injury is a challenging one, so we're excited to have both the player and the person with us."
Crockett said he couldn't gauge whether Magee is keeping his options open to returning to the NFL or will immerse himself fully in baseball.
"I know he's here with us now," he said. "I know he's excited about that. Certainly, I don't think he planned to leave the Bucs prior to that. I know that his focus right at this moment is baseball. But given the success he's had doing both, I don't know what his plans are."
Information from ESPNBoston.com correspondent Rick Weber was used in this report.