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It's a good thing Stanford senior right-handed pitcher Mark Appel can put himself in other's shoes when it comes to opinions about him.
Appel was put squarely under the microscope of critics last summer when the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him eighth overall in the MLB draft. Even with the knowledge that Scott Boras was at least somewhat advising Appel, the Pirates took a chance on the righty, who made it perfectly clear throughout the summer he had zero issue returning to college.
The MLB draft signing deadline arrived and the Pirates still didn't have a deal with Appel despite reportedly making an offer up to $3.8 million. It was official at that point: Appel was returning to Stanford for his senior campaign.
The firestorm, particularly on Twitter, was rather heated with fans, and even some writers, taking aim at Appel for what they called a "silly" or "dumb" decision. Appel certainly noticed the amount of critics taking shots at him, and surprisingly, he kind of understands why they might've felt that way following such a monumental decision.
"Just knowing what happened, when someone speaks poorly of me, I try to put myself in their shoes and see why they think that. Why they think I'm greedy and what not," Appel said. "Those people don't know me as a person, though. They don't know my values, and they jump to conclusions without knowing those things.
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