Roger, Over and In : Quartz Hill’s Worley Expected to Be Chosen Early in Today’s Major League Baseball Draft

The members of the Quartz Hill High baseball team are going to be “sick” today.

Rather than going to class, they will be at Roger Worley’s house, eating doughnuts, drinking milk and waiting for the phone call that will make their teammate the richest kid in school.

Then they’ll have lunch.

Just that quickly, it will all culminate for Worley, the Rebels’ senior right-hander with the fastball that has prompted major league scouting directors from across the country to trek into the hot, windy Antelope Valley.

One of them will call Worley’s name today in the amateur draft, probably before the second round is over. And within a couple of weeks, Worley will sign, probably for well in excess of $100,000.

Although Worley may be the second player selected from the area, behind Newbury Park’s Keith Smith, he will almost certainly be among the first to sign. (See chart).

All his life, he has dreamed of playing professional baseball. And shortly after his June 15 graduation, that’s exactly what he’ll be doing. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.

But Worley’s dream seemed all but unattainable until last summer.

He was a 6-foot-1, 165-pound pitcher with an above-average fastball and little else. His confidence was so shaky his coach would use him against only the weakest opponents.

“He would get down on himself really easily and fight himself,” Quartz Hill Coach Mike Nielson said. “You can tell a kid how good he is, but until he actually believes it, that’s a big step.”

Worley started to believe late last summer. His fastball suddenly had more pop, improving from about 84 m.p.h. to 90 m.p.h., which, in the eyes of a baseball scout, is the difference between being nobody and being somebody.

He also began to master a nasty knuckle-curve that some consider a better pitch than his fastball.

Worley, now 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, was invited to drive into the Valley every Sunday to pitch in scout leagues against other top prospects.

He was asked to throw in private workouts. Worley and his parents once drove more than an hour to Citrus College in Glendora so Worley could throw in front of Kansas City Royals’ scouts for 10 minutes.

As the season began, the scouts were content to follow him from start to start with radar guns. More than 35 showed for his first start, and about the same number to his last, Worley said.

“At the beginning, it (made me nervous),” Worley said, “but not so much now.”

Worley finished the season with a 5-3 record and a 1.55 earned-run average. In 58 2/3 innings, he struck out 91 and gave up 35 hits. He walked 34. The numbers are good, but not great. He was far from the best pitcher in the area, but he might be the first drafted.

What scouts see in Worley is not how good he is now, but how good he can be.

“I need polishing, definitely,” Worley said.

Scouts say he lacks command of his pitches. They say his mechanics are flawed. They say he lacks poise. They say he can throw, but he can’t pitch .

Yet.

Professional coaches can teach all that. And they also expect Worley to put on more weight.

“He has not filled out yet,” Nielson said. “I’m sure (pro coaches) can find another couple miles an hour just straightening out his mechanical flaws.

“I believe he’s got another four or five miles an hour to go, then you’re getting into really scary territory.”

Scary territory? How about batting against a kid with a 90 m.p.h. fastball that could wind up anywhere? Antelope Valley first baseman David Nichols took a Worley fastball in the batting helmet during a game this season.

“I didn’t really know what happened at first,” Nichols said. “I felt it and just remember running to first base.”

Quartz Hill catcher Sean Potter said he had trouble catching some of Worley’s pitches.

“A couple times he just threw it over my head,” Potter said.

Said Nielson: “He could just be dominating at times. I think one of our pitfalls was sometimes he’d be so dominating, then someone would hit the ball and it would take us by surprise.”

The scouts were not dissuaded by Worley’s problems on the mound, until a game in April against Antelope Valley. Worley threw a fastball and felt a twinge in his elbow. He came out of the game.

“That was the worst experience I’ve ever had,” Worley said. “I thought, ‘Shoot, I’m done.’ ”

That night, about 40 scouts called Worley’s home to ask about his condition, Worley said.

“Someone left the game and called us here on a car phone and asked if we needed an orthopedic surgeon and I thought, ‘What!!’ ” Worley’s mother, Bernadette said.

Worley was fine. Just a pinched nerve. But his father had to fax a letter from a doctor to all 28 major league clubs, assuring them the injury was not serious.

Worley has quickly become accustomed to the intricacies that come with life as a prospect. When scouts visit his home--and more than 20 have--they usually bring a standard major league psychological examination.

“I’ve got it memorized,” Worley joked.

He has a scrapbook about four inches thick that includes business cards from scouts representing every major league club except the Pittsburgh Pirates and letters from dozens of colleges.

“I just got one from Stanford today,” Worley said with a shrug. “There’s Miami, Long Beach State, USC, Pepperdine. . . . “

The college letters are nice, Worley said, but he has no plans to play college baseball. Scholarship offers could have improved Worley’s leverage in negotiating a signing bonus, but he also might have scared off some scouts.

“I’ve always felt you put your cards on the table and be honest,” said Worley’s father, Roger Sr.

Worley should still have a nice little bank-account-starter soon. Baseball America magazine this week listed Worley the 51st best prospect in the nation. For the sake of reference, last year’s 51st pick was Tony Fuduric, a right-handed high school pitcher from Middlefield, Ohio. Fuduric signed with the Detroit Tigers for $176,000.

Worley is virtually guaranteed a six-figure deal if he is selected by the end of the second round--and most scouts figure he will be--but as the draft approached, Worley remained cautiously optimistic.

“I would just love to be in the top five rounds,” he said. “That would be awesome for me.

“I’ve heard guys say they were told they were going to be drafted in the first round and they don’t go until the eighth. Just getting drafted is an honor.”