Linton chooses baseball over UNC

Charlotte's Ty Linton signed with baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, choosing Major League baseball over football and baseball careers at North Carolina.

According to the Arizona Republic, Linton -- who played at Charlotte Christian -- received a $1.25 million bonus.

Here's what Diamondbacks general manager Jerry Dipoto told the Republic's Nick Piecoro about Linton:

"In Ty’s case, we have a guy who we believe is a five-tool player, a very athletic outfielder with major league upside and we get to put him in our system. We think a lot of his upside. Love the athlete, love the intensity he brings to the field. A great sign for us. We’re thrilled to have him.

"Going into the draft, we felt like Ty was that kind of talent, but his signability was an issue because of the football. The reason he dropped to the 14th round of the draft was not indicative of the level off his talent, but more indicative of the fact that he was, I believe, the 14th-rated linebacker in the country. We feel like we got a top two round talent in the 14th round.

"Ty was committed to the fact that he wanted to be a major league baseball player and wanted to focus his attentions on it. He was a high school All-American and we don’t know how good he can be because he’s never focused on it 100 per cent of the time. He’s always had peripheral focus on football, which usually brought him into the baseball season a little bit late and more in football shape, a little more muscular and bound up. Given the ability to go out and regain some of that baseball flexibility and get that swing timing down … We’re going to enjoy what we see from Ty Linton."

-- David Scott