The 18-year-old pitcher accepted a $504,000 signing bonus straight out of high school and dove into the minor leagues this summer. He is one of hundreds of prep players who are drafted each year by Major League Baseball franchises, signed and shipped to minor league teams.

But many players have their education covered, too, through Major League Baseball's College Scholarship Plan. The 45-year-old program, which has its skeptics, allows money for college to be negotiated into a contract, and that money is separate from the signing bonus.

"A lot of educators say, 'This kid needs to go to college to get his degree,"' said Larry Runion, Sam's father. "But they don't understand. And I'm looking from a pitcher's standpoint, that with the college wear and tear, who's to say that he's going to be healthy at the end of his junior year for the draft?

"Like Sam says, 'I'm ready to start my career now.' He's always got that college to fall back on."

The College Scholarship Plan, once offered mostly to the top amateur prospects, has slowly become a major part of the negotiating process for many high school players and college juniors.

In 1989, only 38 percent of players drafted got scholarship money in their contracts, said Rich Hunt, payroll and pension manager for Major League Baseball. From 2000 to 2005, an average of 60 percent of signed players were awarded scholarship money, Hunt said, citing the league's most recent extensive study in 2005.

"They sort of get the best of both worlds," Hunt said. "They get to play baseball. They get to go back to school — and it's still getting paid for."

Chris Narveson, a 2000 high school graduate, initially committed to play baseball at Wake Forest University. He said his scholarship package would have covered 85 to 90 percent of the costs to attend the private school.

Then the St. Louis Cardinals drafted Narveson in the second round of the 2000 draft. They offered him a reported $675,000 signing bonus and about $6,000 per semester for college. He took it.

Narveson has toiled in the minor leagues since 2000. He didn't begin taking classes until 2005.

"It's a pretty good program," said Narveson, who has accumulated 40 college credits, including some earned through advanced placement classes in high school.

"But a lot of times the baseball teams give you the money for school, because they know odds are you're probably not going to go back to school to finish it up," he said. "If you play long enough or if you've got other things going on when you're done, it's going to be hard to take time out of your life to go back and do those things."

Hunt said Major League Baseball research disputes critics who say the money is awarded but players don't use it. The research shows that from 1962 to 2000, 66 percent of players who had an education package written into their contract used at least a portion of it.

Players can use the College Scholarship Plan money at any school but must start taking classes within two years of their last day of active playing service, or the plan expires.

While the decision to skip college may be an easy choice for higher draft picks, it can be more difficult for prep players selected later in the draft. The signing bonuses typically aren't as substantial. Neither is the scholarship money — if it's offered at all.

But the up-front cash and the lure of making it to the big leagues are tough to resist for some, even though the odds of making it through the minor leagues to a Major League Baseball team are slim.

Of the 1,482 players selected in the 2002 first-year player draft, 93.5 percent have yet to appear in a single major league game, according to the league.

Narveson said he sympathizes with high school players who don't get the big signing bonuses and scholarship offers but skip college anyway.