[ MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ]
Few Hawaii players
expected to go in
baseball draftMost that are taken will likely
be picked on the second dayRules of the draft
The general feeling among scouts and coaches is the talent pool is not as strong in Hawaii as has been the case in recent years. In fact, one scout called it "poor."
Another scout said, "There may be a lot of Hawaii players drafted, but not the first day."
A third called the draft "soft" as far as Hawaii was concerned.
The annual First-Year Player Draft held by Major League Baseball with a conference telephone call starts Tuesday and ends Wednesday. If each team uses all of its picks in the 50-round draft, more than 1,500 players will be selected, including sandwich picks.
The top pick from Hawaii may be left-hander Justin Azze, who was supposed to be in a Hawaii uniform this year, but was found to be half a credit short in a high school lab course, declared ineligible by the NCAA and despite several appeals, never threw a pitch for the Rainbows this year.
There is interest in a few prep players, including shortstop Keoni Ruth from Kamehameha, catcher Kala Ka'aihue from Iolani, shortstop Gered Mochizuki from Baldwin and left-hander Kaimi Mead from Roosevelt. Ka'aihue and Mead have signed to play for the Rainbows next year.
Rainbows who might be selected are senior third baseman Brent Cook, junior outfielder Tim Montgomery and junior shortstop Brian Finegan.
One scout said he would like to see Brian Bock drafted, but the senior UH catcher said there had not been much interest from scouts here or on the mainland this year.
Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso says several of his mainland recruits will be drafted, and one of his primary duties this summer will be to convince those players the benefits of playing for the 'Bows outweighs signing a professional contract.
UH junior college recruits expected to get the call include Brandon Bailey, an outfielder from Sacramento City College, Kauai's Mark Rodrigues, a left-hander from Los Medanos College who has been selected twice in the past, Nate Thurber, an outfielder from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and possibly Evan MacLane, a left-hander from Feather River (Calif.) Community College.
Rainbow prep recruits that Trapasso worries about are Stephen Wright, a right-handed pitcher/third baseman from Valley View High in Moreno, Calif.; Jeffrey Pry Jr., a right-hander from Franklin High in Portland, Ore., and Matt Buck, a left-hander from Cactus Shadows High in Cave Creek, Ariz.
Hawaii Pacific coach Allan Sato says there has been some interest shown in Matt Paulsen, a right-hander from Beverton, Ore. Paulsen was 5-4 with a 5.40 earned run average for the Sea Warriors this spring.
Scouts made inquires about two Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans, according to coach Joey Estrella. They are Kaliko Oligo, a senior outfielder from Kekaha, Kauai, and Waimea High School who hit .315, and Tom Henderson, a junior third baseman from Oregon City, Ore., who finished with a .309 batting average.
Kainoa Obrey, fully recovered from an injury-plagued 2002 season, is very interested in this year's draft after a solid season at third base for the Brigham Young Cougars.
Despite a nagging back problem last year, Obrey was the 318th overall pick, an 11th round selection by Kansas City, but he decided to return to BYU. This year he enjoyed a .362 batting average, belted 24 doubles and 11 homers and knocked in 65 runs.
There may be a surprise pick out there, but that won't be known until Tuesday or Wednesday.
George goes pro: Hawaii pitcher Chris George signed a free-agent contract with the San Francisco Giants and will report to training camp in Scottsdale, Ariz., on June 9.
Because he was a fifth-year senior, George had the option of signing a deal rather than exposing himself to the draft.
"I don't think it was such a tough decision," George said. "I just wanted to get it over with. I'm excited."
George got a $5,000 signing bonus and was pursued by a number of teams throughout the season. He says that besides the Giants, Boston and the Chicago White Sox showed the most interest. The Giants were eager enough to grab him that they had a scout approach George in San Jose the minute his collegiate season was finished.
"As far as me being a pitcher, the Hawaii coaching staff did so much for me," George said. "They really made me a lot better pitcher. I am so much more valuable to a team now as compared to last year."
After camp, George will report to short-season Single-A Salem-Keizer in Oregon. Once there, he said, he expects to continue the improvement he showed this year.
The Star-Bulletin's Jerry Campany contributed to this report.
BACK TO TOP |
Rules of the draft
Here are the official rules governing the draft:
The Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft is held every year in June by conference call among the 30 Major League Clubs. The clubs take turns selecting players in reverse order of their win-loss records at the close of the previous regular season, with National and American League clubs alternating selections. The draft concludes at the end of the 50th round (or earlier, if each club declines to continue making selections). A National League club selects first in even-numbered years, and an American League club selects first in odd-numbered years.
The rules determining eligibility for selection are detailed, but the basic eligibility criteria can be described as follows: Generally, a player is eligible for selection if the player is a resident of the United States or Canada and the player has never before signed a major league or minor league contract. Residents of Puerto Rico and other territories of the United States are eligible for the draft. Also considered residents are players who enroll in a high school or college in the United States, regardless of where they are from originally.
Certain groups of players are ineligible for selection, generally because they are still in school. The basic categories of players eligible to be drafted are:
High school players, if they have graduated from high school and have not yet attended college or junior college;
College players from four-year colleges who have either completed their junior or senior years or are at least 21 years old; junior college players, regardless of how many years of school they have completed, and 21-year-old players.
A club generally retains the rights to sign a selected player until one week prior to the next draft, or until the player enters, or returns to, a four-year college on a full-time basis. A selected player who enters a junior college cannot be signed until the conclusion of the school's baseball season. A player who is drafted and does not sign with the club that selected him may be drafted again at a future year's draft, so long as the player is eligible for that year's draft. A club may not select a player again in a subsequent year, unless the player has consented to the re-selection.
A player who is eligible to be selected and is passed over by every club becomes a free agent and may sign with any club, up until one week before the next draft, or until the player enters, or returns to, a four-year college full-time or enters, or returns to, a junior college. In the one-week period before any draft, which is called the "closed period," the general rule is that no club may sign a new player.
This description is a general one and the rules themselves, not this summary, govern eligibility issues.
Source: MLB.com
