BY: JOHN SCAFETTA
As the second day of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft continues through this morning and into the evening, I deemed it appropriate to take a fleeting look back at some key players who made contributions to the game and to their teams after being selected in the later rounds.
These were the players who were meant to fill out the rosters on the minor league clubs, only to transform themselves into legitimate Major League baseball players.
- No late-round draft list could be complete without looking back at the 1978 draft, where the Chicago Cubs selected a scrappy infielder from Washington in the 20th round with the 511th overall pick. Ryne Sandberg was his name and he went on to star in 10 all-star games, win nine gold gloves, seven silver slugger, along with the 1984 Most Valuable Player award. In the same draft, the Baltimore Orioles selected a local standout named Cal Ripken in the second round – after 47 other players had already been taken.
- Who would have known that in the 22nd round of the 1985 draft the Detroit Tigers would grab a slim left hander who would go on to become an eight time all-star, a National League Cy Young award winner, a member of the 3,000 strikeout club, and garner more than 200 career win and 150 saves. Of course, his name was John Smoltz and he never pitched in the big leagues for the Tigers. With Detroit locked in a three-team race in the American League and in desperate need of pitching help, the Tigers sent their then 20-year-old prospect to the Atlanta Braves for veteran hurler Doyle Alexander. Who would have thought?
- The Los Angeles Dodgers had no idea in 1988 that when they selected Mike Piazza in the 62nd round that he would win the MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1993 and finish second for them in the 1997 NL MVP voting and hit .362 with 40 home runs and 124 RBIs. At the time, it was believed the pick was a favor to Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda, who is the godfather to one of Piazza’s brother. Piazza would go on to accumulate a lifetime .308 average, while slugging 427 home runs and driving in more than 1300 RBIs.
- When Mike Lowell graduated from Coral Gables High in Miami, Fla., he received little attention from Division I programs across the country. One school took a chance on him in Florida International University. All he did was hit .338 his junior season and led the Golden Panthers to an NCAA regional berth. When draft time came in June of 1995, teams were weary of Lowell’s versatility. However, the New Yankees of all teams set their sights on him in the 20th round. Lowell went on to make four All-Star teams, win a Gold Glove and help guide the Boston Red Sox to their first World Series title in more than 90 years with an MVP performance.
- Weir, Miss has a minuscule population of 553. The local high school’s graduating class had around 20 kids in 1994. Yet, one scout was able to look past all that to discover a 5-foot-10, 160 pound right-hander who would make three All-Star appearances and have and incredible win-loss ratio of 116 to 59. Roy Oswalt was selected in the 23rd round of the 1996 draft as a “draft-and-follow” out of Holmes Community College. The Astros had hoped he might continue to improve and offered him $50,000 to return to school and hone his mechanics. It’s been said his fastball blossomed from 91 to 95 mph during that period, a phenomenon that cost Houston $500,000 when they got around to signing him.
- Despite being ranked early in 1999 to Baseball America’s top 100 list, Jose Alberto Pujols was regarded as very heavy and slow. He was without a definitive position on the field and scouts across the country were questioning his age. With the urgency of an area scout, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Albert Pujols in the 13th round of that year’s draft and signed him for a mere $60,000. Pujols would appear in six All-Star games, bring home three Silver Slugger Awards and slug 296 home runs. Did I mention he’s still under 30?
- In 1996, the only thing anyone knew about Marcus Giles was that he had a brother by the name of Brian. The younger Marcus was a diminutive infielder at Grossmont College in San Diego, Calif. Now Grossmont, including many other junior colleges in-and-around San Diego, are known as hot-beds for potential prospects, but Giles was far from one of those. However, the Atlanta Braves saw something in him to take him in the the 53rd round of that year’s draft. Giles spent nearly six years fighting his way through the minors, before landing the starting second baseman’s job for good with the Braves in 2003. That same year he was selected to the All-Star game and broke the Braves record for most doubles in the season with 49.
These are among just a few of the amazing stories that have occurred on the second day of the draft.
The moral of the story is that many regard the latter end of the draft as insignificant, trivial and irrelevant, when in fact it’s quite the opposite.
So go ahead and take a gander at today’s selections. You never know what the player your team just drafted could turn into.
John Scafetta
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