Posted on Wed, Jun. 10, 2009 11:01 PM
Royals collect bevy of college pitchers
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More Royals draft picks brought more pitching and more prospects who fell in the draft in large part because of signability concerns.
The Royals selected Clemson left-handed pitcher Chris Dwyer in the fourth-round Wednesday, a player who reportedly turned down $850,000 out of high school to attend Clemson.
“When we looked at the board,” said scouting director J.J. Picollo, “as I’m sure a lot of teams did because of the break we had after three rounds, he was a guy who jumped out at us, like, ‘Why is he still on the board?’ ”
Dwyer, listed at 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds, is a rare draft-eligible freshman because he turned 21 in April. He started elementary school a year late and then chose to attend an extra year of high school when he transferred to a prep boarding school after his junior year.
Dwyer’s fastball works from 90 to 92 mph with a curveball and change-up, a package that some thought would get him drafted in the first two rounds. Baseball America ranked him the 55th overall prospect.
Dwyer was a standout high school quarterback who was the Boston Globe’s 3-A player of the year as a junior and received recruiting interest from Boston College, Syracuse and Northwestern.
He was 5-6 with a 4.92 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 86 innings at Clemson. Batters hit .236 against him.
The Royals used their fifth-round choice on Harold Coleman, a right-handed side-armed pitcher from LSU. He was drafted in the 14th round by the Nationals last year, but was quoted saying, “There really wasn’t any amount of money that could have taken me away from (LSU).”
Coleman was chosen first-team All-America and the SEC pitcher of the year as a senior. LSU will begin play in the College World Series on Saturday, and Coleman is currently 13-2 with a 2.76 ERA, 124 strikeouts and 19 walks in 114 innings.
Overall, the Royals used six of their first seven picks and 14 of their 29 picks so far on college pitchers.
“It was really clear to us that this was the year that college pitching was the strength of this draft,” Picollo said. “Especially when you get in the rounds where we started taking that college pitching. It was obvious when we completed that board that this was the way it would go.”
•Royals’ draft list, B7
•KANSAS: SS David Narodowski (15th round, Arizona); P Shawn Blackwell (24th, Texas)*; P Shaeffer Hall (25th, N.Y. Yankees).
•KANSAS STATE: P A.J. Morris (4th, Washington); 1B Justin Bloxom (11th, Washington); 3B Drew Biery (22nd, San Francisco); P Gerardo Esquivel (24th, Cubs)*; C Rob Vaughn (30th, White Sox).
•MISSOURI: C Trevor Coleman (9th, Seattle); 3B Kyle Mach (27th, San Francisco).
* 2009 signee
To reach Sam Mellinger, national baseball reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4365 or send e-mail to smellinger@kcstar.com
Posted on Wed, Jun. 10, 2009 11:01 PM
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