Appel says he is leaving the game

Mark Appel, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2013 draft, walked away from baseball without every throwing a pitch in the major leagues.

Appel, a hard-throwing pitcher from Stanford taken by the Astros with the No. 1 pick in the 2013 Major League Baseball draft, announced his intention to leave the game after being released by Philadelphia in November ahead of the winter meeting draft.

Appel, 26, told Bleacher Report he was at peace with his decision.

“If you want to call me the biggest draft bust, you can call it that,” Appel told Bleacher Report. “If I never get to the big leagues, will it be a disappointment? Yes and no. That was a goal and a dream I had at one point, but that’s with stipulations that I’m healthy, I’m happy and doing something I love.”

Appel grew up an Astros fan in west Houston, played high school ball in Danville, Calif., and became a college star at Stanford and received a $6.35 million signing bonus from the Astros.

Appel went 24-18 with a 5.06 ERA over five seasons in the minors. In other news: • Major League Baseball offered to ditch its proposal for a pitch clock this year and would go without one in 2019 if the average time of a nine-inning game drops to at least 2 hours, 55 minutes this season. Speaking after a quarterly owners meeting ended Thursday, commissioner Rob Manfred said owners authorized him to implement management’s proposal from last offseason, which calls for a 20-second pitch clock this year, if an agreement cannot be reached with the players’ association. Management has proposed a deal that would phase in new rules over the next three seasons.

• MLB said all 30 major league ballparks will have expanded protective netting that reaches to at least the far ends of each dugout by opening day. MLB issued recommendations for protective netting or screens in December 2015, encouraging teams to have it in place between the ends of the dugouts closest to home plate.