Draft Snub Propels Cresse to New Heights

Brad Cresse grew up around major league baseball. His father, Mark, was the Dodgers’ bullpen coach for 22 years. Tom Lasorda is his godfather.

Nearly his whole life has been measured in steps toward his own professional career.

Two years ago, as a sophomore catcher for Louisiana State, Cresse hit 29 home runs and drove in 90 runs to help the Tigers reach the College World Series.

A year ago, however, Cresse struggled through a disappointing season because of a broken bone in his right hand.

Then, in the 1999 amateur draft, Cresse was passed over, not even an afterthought in the late rounds.

LSU’s opponents have been paying for the snub all season.

Heading into an NCAA best-of-three super-regional series against UCLA beginning today in Baton Rouge, La., Cresse leads the nation with 29 home runs in 63 games. He is batting .399 with 100 RBIs, leading the Tigers in both categories.

Cresse was selected as a first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball Weekly, and is among three finalists for the Smith Award, a player of the year honor given by the Houston Rotary Club. He also is a semifinalist for another player of the year honor, the Howser Award, and a contender for the Johnny Bench Award that goes to college baseball’s top catcher.

“Last year was a bitter disappointment, with me being hurt and the team not making it to the World Series,” Cresse said. “I wanted to be able to prove to everyone this year that my sophomore season wasn’t some kind of fluke.”

Cresse was sidelined for four weeks last season and played at less than full strength at other times because of the injury. He still batted .302 with 10 home runs and 39 RBIs in 59 games, thanks to a strong finish.

But it wasn’t the season that was expected for the former Orange County high school standout who played three years for Los Alamitos High and his senior year at Marina. And then there was the additional disappointment of being overlooked in the draft.

Cresse, picked in the 34th round by the Dodgers coming out of high school, was surprised. So was his father. “I think the [pro teams] must have thought he would be expecting a lot of money to sign,” Mark Cresse said. “Brad had said he probably wouldn’t consider signing if he wasn’t drafted in the first five rounds. But I was still hurt for him because I know how hard he’s worked. I thought he deserved to be drafted.”

LSU opponents wish he was long gone. The Tigers are 46-17 and only two victories away from another trip to Omaha.

And, with 77 career homers, Cresse is only three away from the Southeastern Conference career record set in 1998 by his former teammate Eddy Furniss, who also played four years for LSU. Cresse hit nine homers as a freshman in 122 at-bats on a team that won the College World Series.

Cresse is only the fourth LSU player to drive in 100 or more runs in a season.

“He’s improved on everything this season,” LSU Coach Skip Bertman said. “He’s catching better, throwing better and running the bases better. He’s worked hard, harder than he’s ever worked.”

Turtle Thomas, a first-year LSU assistant, has spent extra time working with Cresse on his defense.

“He has helped me a lot,” Cresse said. “I wish he had been around for my other three years. We’ve worked a lot on my footwork behind the plate, and I think my arm strength is better this year.”

Cresse, 6 feet 3 and 210 pounds, apparently hasn’t been bothered by the NCAA-ordered restrictions on aluminum bats that have reduced their power.

“I feel good that I’ve already matched my sophomore-year home run number, and I have a good chance to get more,” Cresse said. “I wanted to prove that the new bat didn’t make a difference for me. It hurts the little guy who has trouble getting the new bat through the strike zone more than someone like me. The bat we’re using now is much more like a wood bat.”

Cresse is batting .400 with five homers and 11 RBIs in LSU’s seven postseason games, including the SEC tournament. He had four homers in three games in LSU’s regional last weekend.

“I’ve been fairly consistent all season,” Cresse said. “I got off to a little bit of a slow start, and I went through a stretch of a couple weeks when I wasn’t seeing the ball well, but it didn’t last long.”

Cresse has walked 34 times and been hit 18 times this season. “They’ve tried to pitch around him a lot,” Bertman said.

Mike Fontenot is the only other LSU player in double digits in homers with 16.

“We’re a different kind of team this season than we were in 1998 because of the bats,” Cresse said. “It’s not just a home-run derby anymore. This team can do more different things.”

What Cresse’s effort this season will mean for him in the baseball draft next week is uncertain. Baseball America magazine ranks him No. 122 among the top prospects.

Cresse’s father, who has been operating several baseball camps since he was not retained as a Dodger coach, said, “The important thing now is that he’ll get a chance to show what he can do on the next level. I try to separate myself sometimes and look at Brad as a baseball man and not just his father, but I would think that every team would be looking for a catcher who can hit the ball out of the park.”

Brad Cresse said he’s putting aside thoughts about the draft at this point.

“Whatever happens in the draft happens,” he said. “My main concern now is helping us get back to the World Series.”