Trend in Drafting Focuses on Genes

Go ahead. Buy private lessons for your son. Take him to the park for ground balls and extra work off the batting tee.

But do so purely for the enjoyment of spending time together and learning the game. Don’t expect it to lead to a major league baseball career.

That message was transmitted loud and clear in the amateur draft this week.

Of course, parents can provide something that will enhance their son’s status as a prospect.

Genes.

Whatever it is in DNA that results in height well over 6 feet, blazing speed on the basepaths or enormous muscles. An arm that can hurl a ball 90 mph will work, too, especially if it’s the left one.

Scouts will overlook the headiest, most fundamentally sound player in favor of raw, unpolished talent. Every time.

Witness Dayle Campbell, a 6-7 right-hander who didn’t leave the Pierce College bullpen because he was ineligible. He’s been an outfielder until this season and has never pitched in an organized game.

Yet he was clocked throwing 97 mph in the bullpen, prompting the Detroit Tigers to draft him in the fifth round.

“He has no pitches except a fastball and rudimentary change-up, and he has no idea how to get a batter out, but he might have the best arm in the draft,� one scout said.

Consequently, Campbell is more desirable than an experienced pitcher who wins regularly but can’t break 85 mph. A scout signs someone like Campbell and sends him to rookie league, where the coaches salivate. They’ve got fresh clay to mold into a major leaguer, even if it takes five years or more.

A polished pitcher without the velocity is probably as good as he’ll ever get. Minor league coaches prefer somebody they can develop, a guy with a “high ceiling.�

Campbell was hardly the only unproven player selected.

Larry Brown, a tremendous football player and struggling outfielder who had not played high school baseball until this season at San Fernando, was the 12th-round pick of the Seattle Mariners. Although he batted a modest .338 with one home run, Brown (6-3, 220 pounds) is a chiseled physical specimen with speed, a powerful arm and the potential for hitting the long ball.

“It’s all about what somebody projects him doing three to five years from now with professional coaching,� a scout said. “His performance now is almost beside the point.�

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The draft has undergone several changes in recent years, including capping it at 50 rounds. Not long ago, teams could continue picking players as long as they desired, sometimes taking nearly 100.

Had the current limit been in effect in 1995, Gabe Kapler might not be in the Tigers’ outfield. The Taft High graduate was taken in the 57th round out of Moorpark College and blossomed into one of baseball’s top prospects.

The last area player taken this year was Jason Botts, a tall, raw first baseman for Glendale College whom the Texas Rangers picked in the 46th round. The last high school player selected was Buena High catcher Josh Lake, the 46th-round choice of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Three players from Moorpark College were taken in the late rounds: right-handed pitcher Andrew Corona in the 36th round by the Baltimore Orioles, catcher Josh Goldfield in the 41st round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and shortstop Zach Gordon in the 43rd round by the Oakland Athletics.

Is another Kapler among them? Only time will tell.

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Kevin Howard of Westlake, Michael Falco of Agoura and Kameron Loe of Granada Hills were drafted far below what their abilities suggested because, according to scouts, they “priced themselves out� by saying they would sign only for a bonus equal to that of a first-round pick.

Translation: Their parents wanted them to go to college.

Howard will attend Miami, Falco is headed to Pepperdine and Loe to Cal State Northridge.

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Watching the draft with particular interest are families who figure to go through the process next year.

Matt Harrington of Palmdale is a 6-3 right-handed pitcher many scouts project as a high draft choice in 2000. He also is a teammate of Falcon outfielder Chris Testa, who was taken in the fifth round by the Colorado Rockies.

“The Testas said they will sit down with us after this is all over and let us know what they’ve learned,� said Susan Harrington, Matt’s mother.

Perhaps Major League Baseball should offer a seminar on the myriad variables involved in the draft process.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea,� Susan Harrington said.