MLB News: It took 10 years, but Bass earns college degree

Both Kyle Hendricks and Luke Farrell have degrees in finance. Reliever Anthony Bass has joined them as a college graduate, having recently received his business degree with a focus on management information systems from Wayne State University. It just took him 10 years to do it. Bass, 30, was attending Wayne State when he was drafted in 2008 by the Padres. Since then he's pitched in Tucson, Oklahoma City and Round Rock, as well as for the Padres, Astros and Rangers. He spent 2016 in Japan before returning to the Major Leagues. "It's something I've always wanted to do -- finish my degree," Bass said on Saturday. "It's something I started, something I invested a lot of my time in -- and obviously, money, too. It was always in the back of my mind to want to finish. Going overseas in '16, I had more time when I was playing there than I do here, and I just picked it back up." Bass was pitching for the Nippon-Ham Fighters, and even though there is a 13-hour time difference between Wayne State's campus in Detroit and Tokyo, he was able to finish his classes online. "The time change was tough," Bass said. "They usually had deadlines, so I could work all week on an assignment. If I took a test, they'd give me a 24-hour window to finish it." The professors would record their lectures and post them so Bass could watch in his free time. Bass completed his final exam at the end of April and received an email the second week of May, when he was pitching for Triple-A Iowa, informing him that he'd earned his diploma. He missed the spring graduation ceremony, but could take part in another in December.

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