Boettcher impressed in baseball to the point of being selected in the 13th round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, he delayed the start of his minor league career to see his potential on the football field.<\/p>\n Boettcher, now 23, is expected to be a mid-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a> as a linebacker and a core four-phase special team player.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t BACK TO SCHOOL<\/p>\n Fernando Mendoza divides fans with schoolboy outfit shoot ahead of NFL Draft<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t VIVA LAS VEGAS<\/p>\n Raiders fielding calls over NFL Draft No. 1 pick as Fernando Mendoza awaits<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n During the Scouting Combine, Boettcher revealed his passion is much greater on the gridiron compared to the diamond.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t hit on the baseball field,\u201d he said in February.<\/p>\n \u201cI love baseball, but [football] makes me feel alive.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd there\u2019s a reason why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMost read in American Football\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n During his early college baseball days, Boettcher was an elite defender but had offensive struggles.<\/p>\n In 2022, he walked into then-new football coach Dan Lanning\u2019s office and asked for a tryout.<\/p>\n Boetcher joined the football team, which helped his baseball career.<\/p>\n In 2024, he was the NCAA\u2018s Gold Glove-winning center fielder and hit 2.276 with 12 home runs, 35 RBIs, and 15 stolen bases.<\/p>\n Boettcher speaks during a press conference at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in FebruaryCredit: Getty<\/p>\n The Astros took a shot in a draft slot with a $150,000 signing bonus and stood by Boettcher\u2019s decision to pursue football fully.<\/p>\n Once Boetcher was all-in on football, he never looked back, winning the 2024 Burlsworth Trophy as the best FBS player.<\/p>\n The following season, he posted 136 tackles and was stellar on punt and kickoff coverage while also being an option to block kicks.<\/p>\n Boetcher has the skills to play in the NFL as \u201che\u2019s smart, tough, instinctive and plays faster than he was time,\u201d one league executive told the New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s safe to say teams know they\u2019ll be getting toughness and effort if they do pick Boettcher.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t met someone who is as passionate about [football] and plays as hard as I do,\u201d Boettcher said.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like that\u2019s No. 1 in football. Somebody who is passionate and somebody who is physical is going to win you a lot of games, and that\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tHow to watch the NFL Draft\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe 2026 NFL Draft starts on Thursday April 23 – and it’s sure to be a spectacular event.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n *If you click a link in this boxout, we may earn affiliate revenue.<\/p>\n Fernando Mendoza<\/a> is widely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick by the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> \u2013 but will it happen?<\/p>\n Round 1 takes place Thursday 23 April from 8 pm ET with rounds two and three Friday at 7 pm ET.<\/p>\n And the action will conclude Saturday 25 April with rounds four to seven from midday ET.<\/p>\n You can watch all the action live on ESPN <\/a>and NFL Network<\/a> from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n Fans can sign up and watch the huge NFL showpiece by following the links below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL teams will get the chance to select a player in the 2026 NFL Draft who was once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2276],"tags":[5,19,2291,4,1586,1082,20823,6040],"class_list":{"0":"post-676745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-draft","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-major-league-baseball","10":"tag-major-league-baseball-draft","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-mlb-draft","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nfl-draft","15":"tag-oregon-ducks-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116412731804056202","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/JB_FERNANDO_COMP-copy.jpg\"\/)
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