PEMBROKE — Trent Harris thought he might earn a pro baseball opportunity through last week’s MLB Draft, but that chance never presented itself.

Instead, a free agent deal materialized.

Harris will join the San Francisco Giants organization, and the UNC Pembroke redshirt-junior will forgo his remaining eligibility as he turns professional.

“I’ve worked really hard to get to this point in my career,” Harris said. “I didn’t get my name called during the draft; that was disappointing. But luckily enough, I hadn’t been talking to the Giants a whole lot, but they called and asked how my summer was going, and I said it’s good, I started the (Coastal Plain League) All-Star Game, and they said, ‘well screw that, why don’t you come play for the Giants?’ It’s a dream come true, I couldn’t ask for more than that.”

Harris, a Raleigh native, played both pitcher and third base at UNCP, but will pitch for the Giants. He began the 2023 UNCP season as a weekend starter before moving to the bullpen in mid-March; he posted a 2.83 ERA with two saves over his 12 relief appearances, with a 7-3 overall record and a 3.32 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings.

Harris also hit .305 with 30 RBIs and 25 runs scored as a lineup regular for the Braves — but pitching is easily Harris’ preferred part of the game.

“That’s where his talent lies; he’s got arm talent,” UNCP coach Paul O’Neil said. “That’s where he’s going to get to play at the next level. Trent’s very competitive, he’s a great athlete, and he’s got a really good arm.”

“It’s something my dad did when I was growing up; I wasn’t always a pitcher, but when my body came along, I was a late bloomer — when I’m on the mound, I’m completely in control, I control the tempo of the game,” Harris said. “Whatever’s doing, I have the chance to attack.”

Harris’ father Greg Harris pitched eight seasons in the major leagues as a 45-game winner for the San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies and Minnesota Twins from 1988-95.

“As soon as I got the call, I gave him a call, and he got choked up,” Trent Harris said. “He’s my biggest supporter, and my brother and my mom are always there for me, so I couldn’t ask for anything more. But (my dad) taught me everything I know. … The way he talks about it, the game has changed a lot of ways. There’s more home runs, and guys throw it a lot harder … but it’s always fun to watch baseball with him and hear him talk about what he’d do in that situation.”

Harris is the third UNCP player in the last three seasons to sign with an MLB organization; River Ryan was drafted by the Padres in 2021 and later traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Darren Bowen was drafted by the Seattle Mariners last year.

“I know Paul O’Neil would love to have me back next year, and I would’ve loved to go back and play under him another year,” Harris said. “He called me and said it’s a win-win for both of us; I get to play pro ball and live out my dream, and he gets to say another player came through the program that’s playing pro ball.”

“We have a part in it, but he’s the one with the talent, he’s the one putting all the hard work in,” O’Neil said. “River, Darren and now Trent, all three guys were not draft picks out of high school, and they’re all realizing, hey, I went to Pembroke and I got enough training and coaching and development and I’m getting to reach my goals.”

Like Harris, Ryan was a two-way player at UNCP who is now exclusively a pitcher as a professional; he is currently with the Tulsa Drillers, the Dodgers’ AA affiliate, and is the Dodgers’ No. 11 prospect according to mlb.com.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about him; a lot of people said when I was coming in I was going to be the next River Ryan. … You look at his numbers now; he got traded over to the Dodgers. I’m not at 99, 100 miles per hour, and being in the same sentence with River Ryan, someone that talented, that’s big shoes to fill and I’m proud that I was able to do it the best that I can.”

Like Ryan, getting to focus solely on pitching could allow Harris to improve that much more on the mound, O’Neil said.

“Pitching comes pretty natural to him, and once he gets a chance to just pitch, and that’s all he’s going to do, he’s going to get even better,” O’Neil said. “because he’s not going to be splitting his time between taking ground balls and taking batting practice and then having to do his bullpens and side sessions, throwing and all the other stuff, now it’s all pitching and he can focus 100% of his efforts on the pitching side of it, and you’ll see his game get a lot better really fast. The same thing happened to River.”

Harris reported to Scottsdale, Arizona last weekend to begin training with the Giants organization.