Towson’s Palacios carries on family MLB legacy
At home, Richie Palacios was calm, texting words of “congratulations” to the guys he knew who were selected before him on the first night of the major league baseball draft — until the call he’d been waiting for lit up his phone Tuesday afternoon. “Dream come true,” he said. The Towson University shortstop became the highest Tigers position player ever drafted, trading black and gold for the navy and red of the Cleveland Indians, who selected him in the third round (103rd overall).
“I’ve been working my whole life for this opportunity to be able to finally say that I’m a Cleveland Indian,” Palacios said.
The third-highest player drafted in Towson history, Palacios follows lefthander Chris Nabholz, the 49th overall pick by the Montreal Expos in 1988, and left-handed pitcher Chris Russ, chosen by the Texas Rangers 94th overall in 2000.
“What’s really valuable is his willingness to learn,” Towson coach Matt Tyner said. “He’s not a kid who will say, ‘I’m doing it my way.’ He’s the guy that goes, ‘Give me more, give me more, give me more.’ ”
Mirroring his regal last name, Palacios was raised with hopes of being the latest in his family to play baseball professionally.
“I came out of the womb with a baseball in my hand,” he said. “My father, my uncle, my brother [showed] me what was going to happen in the future, before it even happened.”
His uncle, Rey, spent parts of three seasons catching with the Kansas City Royals. And while growing up enveloped by his family’s stories and highlight videos, it was trading batter’s boxes with his older sibling, Joshua, on Brooklyn, N.Y., diamonds that developed Palacios’ competitive drive.
The two seemed determined to take a different road from each other to reach their collective end: while Joshua prepped at the School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology, Richard played for the Berkeley Carroll School. Josh took to the outfield, Richard to the infield. Joshua enrolled in junior college and turned down a 31st-round selection by the Cincinnati Reds in 2014 before transferring to Division I Auburn, while Richard was recruited out of high school by former coach Mike Gottlieb to Towson.
“A lot of the top programs recruited me and then came to say I was too small for their school, for their conference,” the 5-foot-11 shortstop said. “That was added motivation to show those people I can.”
When his brother signed with the Toronto Blue Jays after being picked in the fourth round in 2016, Palacios added another layer of motivation to his mission.
“It just made that a little bit more of a reality,” Palacios said. “Seeing my old brother get drafted put it on my mind that, ‘Yes, this could be a real thing. If I work even harder, then teams will follow you and it’ll one day be your time.’ ”