Oregon State releases statement on Ben Wetzler ruling

Oregon State University released a statement Friday afternoon regarding the NCAA’s ruling that pitcher Ben Wetzler must miss 20 percent of the remaining baseball season due to his violation of the governing body’s “no agent” rule — a statute that’s widely disregarded.

Wetzler was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies last June but did not sign with the team. According to the NCAA, Wetzler made inappropriate use of an agent during the process.

Not surprisingly, the university called the NCAA’s punishment of Wetzler excessive:

"While NCAA rules allow a student-athlete to obtain advising services about the draft and contract offers, the adviser may have no contact with a professional organization. Although the evidence was unclear, the NCAA found that Wetzler’s adviser did have prohibited contact and that a violation of the ‘spirit’ of the NCAA bylaw occurred. It was clear from the beginning, however, that there was no intent on the part of Ben Wetzler to circumvent the rules. He was trying to do the right thing. To be clear, Ben received no money, nor did he enter into an agreement with the intent of hiring an agent to negotiate on his behalf. The violation was a technicality, and we strongly believe that it is overly harsh for him to lose 20 percent of his senior season because of that."

(An interesting aspect of this situation is the report that the Philadelphia Phillies, upon learning they would be unable to sign Wetzler, were the ones who reported the “violation” to the NCAA.)

As always, amateurism has proven itself to be a flawless system.

[Source: Oregon Live]