Who's been fooling you?
With the baseball amateur draft on the radar screen (it's June 5), the name Steve Chilcott rankles Mets fans. He was the high school catcher selected with the first overall pick in 1966; Reggie Jackson was then selected by the Kansas City Athletics.
But Whitey Herzog, one of the game's best talent evaluators, always said, "Chilcott had all the talent of a superstar, but he hurt his shoulder. That's just one of those things that can happen."
With that in mind, here are a few remembrances of players about whom current scouts and executives admit they were dead wrong. Four immediately named Doug Mientkiewicz. "I never thought he'd come close to ever hitting with power," says one scout. "I had him as a utility infielder."
Other hits and misses from individual scouting and front office personnel:
"Trot Nixon. He's a good big-league player, but in high school I thought I was watching a young Mickey Mantle. Of course, a few years later I went to see J.D. Drew in the Northern League and was convinced I knew what it was like to watch Mantle as an amateur."
"Sean Casey. I watched him in the Cape League and at Richmond, and never thought he could have quick enough hands to hit for power. Never underestimate desire."
"Jeff Juden. He'd throw 95 miles an hour with an 87 (mph) slider in 12-degree weather. He had superstar written all over him."
"Keith Foulke. When I saw him in the minors, I thought he was a fringe prospect, a far cry from the Trevor Hoffman he's become. But I also thought Mike Campbell was going to be a star. I can't understand what happened."
"Ed Yarnall. I thought he'd be a solid winning pitcher in the major leagues. But then, at the same time, I never thought Preston Wilson was close to the player he's become."
"Jim Edmonds. When I saw him in the minors, I wrote in my report that he was the second coming of Fred Lynn. Then when he got to the majors, I said he was going bounce from city to city. He got me coming and going."
"Matt Drews. I thought he was a sure 20-game winner, and never thought Jon Lieber would be anywhere near as good as he is."
"Shawon Dunston. I know he's had a good career, but I thought he and A-Rod were the best amateurs I ever saw. I'll guarantee you that the ratings on Dunston were just as high as Rodriguez, but Shawon never developed the power or the discipline (career-high 30 walks). I thought Dunston's power potential was greater than that of Nomar or Jeter."
"Pete Schourek. I didn't turn him in in high school, and he ended up a runner-up for the Cy Young. My greatest regret was not signing Dre' Bly (now a cornerback with the St. Louis Rams) out of high school. He could have been a great center field leadoff hitter."
"Frank Thomas. I saw what I saw, a football guy trying to make some money playing baseball, some strength but awkwardness and even a little stiffness. The player I missed the other way on was a shortstop named Rick Lantrip from Golden West High School in Visalia (Calif.). I thought he was a Robin Yount-type talent, quick to the big leagues and a franchise player." Lantrip went to the University of Arizona, then Fresno State, signed with the Yankees and never got out of A ball.
"Ken Brett. He was the best high school prospect I saw in 40 years in Southern California, but as a center fielder. He was a better hitter than his brother, a great talent."
The dreams of our fathers
In this year's draft, somewhere between the Brewers with the 12th pick and the sandwich round, Jon Steitz, RHP, Yale, will be selected. Most college draft picks require compensation for a certain amount of remaining semesters of school, but Steitz needs just one semester to finish his degree in molecular biology in 3½ years.
His parents, Thomas and Joan Steitz, are molecular biology professors at Yale. Joan was first woman to win the Warren Triennial Prize, which is often described as the "Nobel Prize predictor." While Jonathan is going through predraft workouts -- Saturday in Lowell for the Red Sox, Tuesday at The Stadium for the Yankees -- Tom will be in Sweden speaking to the Nobel folks. Science Magazine listed his work on the structure of the ribosome of the cell as the second most significant work of the last year after the mapping of genes, so he may be in line for the Nobel Prize himself.
"I'm at my predraft workout," Dr. Steitz told his son.
The way you do the things you do
Can someone explain why every time Darin Erstad is in the on-deck circle, he takes all uppercut swings, then when he gets in the batter's box, he swings down? And why Chuck Knoblauch does just the opposite -- swings down in the on-deck circle, up in the box?
Nice work if you can get it
Highest-paid middle relievers: Rod Beck ($4.5 million); John Franco ($3.5 million).
Highest-paid part-time player combinations: Dante Bichette and Troy O'Leary ($11.1 million), John Valentin and Mike Lansing ($12.1 million), Tom Goodwin and Marquis Grissom ($8.25 million).
Devon White as a $5 million fourth outfielder qualifies somewhere, despite his comeback season.
Over, under, sideways, down
On Thursday afternoon, Carl Everett swung at 10 pitches from Mike Mussina -- and missed them all in a four-strikeout game. Everett's Red Sox teammate Shea Hillenbrand had swung and missed 11 times all season at that point (Edgar Martinez had swung and missed seven times).
The only players to have swung and missed more than Everett going into the weekend were Sammy Sosa and Russell Branyan. All of which makes one further appreciate Barry Bonds, who in this era has nearly 400 more walks than strikeouts on his career.
-- Source: Elias Sports Bureau
America team
Montreal has already had six crowds under 5,000. They had two last season -- both for Florida in September.
Way over yonder in the minor key
Boston University Professor Barton Carter is headed to Italy and France at the end of June for two weeks of playing baseball. It's part of two tours run by Sports Adventures.
After a week of games in Rome, the American team will go to the French Riviera for a week of games in Baziers against such teams as the Baziers Pirates, the Bratislavia Oaks and the Diving Ducks of Austria. The championship game is on Bastille Day.
Ohio
The must-see Web site of the week is "The Nixon and Sports Web site," as suggested by Bill Simmons on bostonsportsguy.com. Remember, Nixon's son-in-law David Eisenower worked for the Washington Senators in the summer.
Money don't change me
So much for the corruption of the multimillionaires theory. Through May 25, these are the projected season stats for the four biggest free agents:
Misc.
Pedro Martinez's ERA by inning vs. the Yankees since 1998: 1st through 3rd, 0.82; 4th through 6th, 2.76; 7th on, 8.80.
Randy Johnson only pitched five innings in each of his two starts following his 147-pitch effort on May 13 (which followed his 124-pitch 20-strikeout game).
Deion Sanders went 4-for-38 after his 3-for-3 debut.
After the Cubs passed on Vinny Castilla, their third-base combo of Ron Coomer and Miguel Cairo was a combined 20-for-45 with 2 HR heading into the weekend.
Jon Lieber's 78-pitch complete game Thursday prompted Baseball Immortals (baseballimmortals.net) to remind us that the record low-pitch count for a complete game is believed to be 58 (in 1944 by Red Barrett).
Royce Clayton was hitting .102 in 98 at-bats as of May 26.
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