Oakland A’s prospect Grant Desme made public this afternoon a decision he had already made when he homered and struck out twice in his final game in the Arizona Fall League last fall. He’s leaving baseball to study for the priesthood at a Catholic seminary in California.

Let the headline puns about higher callings, higher leagues, chastity belts, collars and cloth begin. Or even better, miss-the-point headlines like one from Huffington Post talking about Desme “pursuing his faith” (as if one can’t pursue faith while not in seminary).

Desme had this to say during a conference call with reporters today, according to a blog post on SFGate.com:

“I’m doing well in baseball. But I had to get down to the bottom of things, to what was good in my life, what I wanted to do with my life. Baseball is a good thing, but that felt selfish of me when I felt that God was calling me more. It took awhile to trust that and open up to it and aim full steam toward him.”

Grant might want to talk to former pro soccer player Chase Hilgenbrinck about the transition from sports to seminary. Hilgenbrinck retired in November 2008 to enroll in a Catholic seminary on the East Coast.