Redington Declines Pro Offer : Shortstop Decides to Attend Arizona Rather Than Sign

Tom Redington, Esperanza High School shortstop and The Times’ 1987 Player of the Year, decided Tuesday to decline the Atlanta Braves’ offer to turn professional. He said he will attend the University of Arizona this fall on a baseball scholarship.

The Braves were offering Redington, a third-round draft pick, a signing bonus and incentive package worth about $100,000, but it wasn’t enough to lure him from college.

“It was a great offer, but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for,” Redington said. “I figured I could go to school for three years and get just as much as I would now.

“When you have a full scholarship to go to a great school and play ball, it takes more than that to take you away. The college life and baseball seems like a lot of fun.”

Bob Wadsworth, the Braves scout who handled negotiations with Redington, said that the organization doesn’t plan to make another offer.

“I think we made an offer that was hard to turn down, but who knows what his thinking was?” Wadsworth said. “You always want to sign your high drafts, but if the boy doesn’t want to go, it would be foolish for him to sign.”

Redington graduated from Esperanza last week with a 3.2 grade-point average and will major in business administration or communications at Arizona. He started for three years on the Aztecs’ varsity team and tied the Orange County record for career home runs with 22.

Redington helped Esperanza win the Southern Section 4-A championship in 1986, his junior season, and led the Aztecs to the 1987 4-A title game, where they lost to Lakewood, 1-0, on June 6.

Redington, a 6-foot 1-inch, 190-pounder, hit .366 (26 for 71) with 9 homers, 30 RBIs and 36 runs scored this season. He also tied the Southern Section record for walks in a season with 38. As a junior, Redington hit .442 (38 for 86) with 10 home runs, 10 doubles and 42 RBIs.

Redington’s home run helped the North team defeat the South, 11-0, in the Orange County All-Star game last Tuesday and he was named most valuable player of the Southern California team that won two of three games against Northern California in the state all-star series at San Diego State June 13-14.

He went 5 for 9 with two doubles and seven RBIs in the state series and was a member of the California all-star team that swept a three-game series from Oklahoma last weekend at Stockton.

Redington also is a member of the West team that will compete in the Junior Olympic Sports Festival in North Carolina July 11-23.