Zach Houchins, the Washington Nationals’ 15th-round selection in the 2011 draft has not heard from the team since being drafted in June and Bill Ladson of MLB.com suspects the team will not sign the shortstop.

In June it was discovered that Houchins made racist and homophobic remarks on Twitter.

“I called [the Nationals]. I apologized to Mr. Roy Clark [the team's assistant general manager]. I apologized to him for what was said on Twitter,” Houchins said. “[Clark said], ‘Yeah, anything you said on Twitter was completely unacceptable.’ I understood where he was coming from. That was pretty much the conversation.

“I’m not a racist, not at all. … Four of my best friends, two of them are black, one of them was my roommate. He is probably one of the closest people I’ve ever been around. … Me and my four best friends became so close, it’s just how we talk. It wasn’t anything derogatory or anything like that. It’s just how we talk.”

Teams have until August 16 to sign their draft picks.  Houchins is expected to return to Louisburg College.

Image by Lee Cannon Under the Creative Commons License