Grigsby Is Dodging Pre-Draft Rumors : Baseball: SDSU pitcher denies he is having arm trouble, but talk has jeopardized his status as a first-round pick.

His season is finished, and there isn’t much San Diego State pitcher Benji Grigsby can do except sit back and wait.

And sweat.

A day before the beginning of the annual June Free Agent Draft on Monday, Grigsby is home in Lafayette, La., attempting to plan his career while worrying that his draft position is sinking more quickly than George Bush’s approval ratings.

Word has been circulating that Grigsby, who was projected by Baseball America as the 26th-ranked prospect--and ninth-ranked pitcher--in the draft, is having arm trouble.

He says no, his arm is fine, but he realized the extent of the rumors when an uncle telephoned him on Friday to tell him that USA Today did a draft prediction and didn’t include him in the first round.

Of course, drafts can be as difficult to predict as interest rates. Aside from Grigsby, other San Diego-area players expected to be taken early are Morse shortstop Dwain Bostic, Castle Park catcher Kiko Palacios and Scott Karl, a Hawaii pitcher who graduated from Carlsbad High in 1989.

But who knows? About the only thing on which scouts agree is that this year’s talent pool is thin.

“Considerably,” said one Southern California scout who wished to remain anonymous. “Pitching-wise, there aren’t as many strong arms as in the past.”

Talent is also down in San Diego, he said.

“You look at the high schools, and there just aren’t any dominant guys this year,” he said. “There is nobody like a Mike Bovee (former Mira Mesa pitcher who was chosen by Kansas City last June) or Benji Gil (former Castle Park pitcher who was drafted in the first round by Texas last June).”

The dearth of prospects isn’t good for major league teams, but it doesn’t hurt the players. Grigsby, who still hopes to go in the first round, is a good case in point.

“In years past, he would have been a second-rounder on down, with an outside chance of being drafted in the first round,” said another scout--who added that he hadn’t heard anything about Grigsby’s alleged arm troubles. “But Grigsby is a fine pitcher, don’t get me wrong. You would have to rate him among the top six or seven college pitchers in the country.”

With a healthy arm, of course. Grigsby said he was asked about his arm by his coach at Lassen Community College in Susanville, and that word even reached his high school coach in Louisiana, who asked Grigsby’s father if there was any truth to the story.

“I would like to set the story straight,” Grigsby said via telephone from Louisiana. “A couple of scouts and people in Hawaii (during the Western Athletic Conference tournament May 14-16) said I wasn’t throwing as hard as I was against Hawaii before. They said they saw bruises on my arm.”

The “bruise,” according to Grigsby, came several weeks earlier when he sustained a “strawberry” on his right (pitching) arm while sliding into third base. He said that when the scab disappeared, he was left with a scar.

“I don’t know how the (bad arm) story got around,” said Grigsby, who went 9-3 with a 3.53 ERA for SDSU this spring. “That’s bogus.”

After Grigsby, Morse’s Bostic is the next likely San Diego player to be chosen. Ranked 72nd in Baseball America’s list of top 100 prospects, Bostic batted .465 with 18 stolen bases.

“He’s a guy who kind of popped up on the scene,” said the scout who mentioned Bovee and Gil. “He’s got very good speed and can swing the bat a little, too.”

Hawaii’s Karl went 14-3 with a 2.36 ERA in 18 starts this season.

“He doesn’t throw hard, but he’s left-handed,” the scout said. “And those Hawaii pitchers get a lot of work. It’s amazing he played at Hawaii for three years and didn’t have arm surgery. That’s rare for that program. He knows what he’s doing.”

Palacios batted over .470 with six home runs and 28 RBIs and was impressive behind the plate.

“He’s got a strong arm and has shown some power,” the scout said.

The draft begins Monday and continues through Wednesday.