Hard Decisions for Players Come After the Draft

Joey Hamer felt the strings pulling from all sides.

“It was a pretty nerve-racking week,” Hamer said. “There was a lot going through my mind.”

Hamer, a catcher at Newbury Park High, was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 25th round of major league baseball’s amateur draft earlier this month.

From that moment, Hamer became part of a summer rite that every year involves hundreds of high school and college players, each with dreams and aspirations.

For many of those selected, there are no simple answers in a process that can be as tormenting as it is exciting.

Should they sign? Is it a fair offer? How does it compare to what others with similar skills are receiving? Should they pass on a college scholarship already in hand?

Although some try to downplay it, money usually is the bottom line, the sledgehammer that makes or breaks the deal. In some cases, the value of a college scholarship is greater than the pro signing offer.

The draft’s first pick this year, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez of Eastlake High in Chula Vista, signed with the Florida Marlins for $3 million. The money drops markedly from there, with fifth-round selections signing for about $175,000 and 30th-round picks for about $38,000.

Conversely, a four-year baseball scholarship to UCLA is worth about $50,000.

Pitcher Jamie Shields, among others, is facing such a predicament.

Shields, a right-hander from Hart, was picked by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 16th round. It was a relatively low round for someone with a 90-mph fastball who was projected before the season to go much higher.

But Shields missed most of his senior season with a strained back muscle and his stock plummeted. He is pondering whether to sign with the Devil Rays or head for NCAA champion Louisiana State on scholarship.

“I’ve been going with my heart,” Shields said. “Whatever I feel inside, that’s how I’ll make my decision and I won’t have any regrets.”

Another pitcher, left-hander Matthew Merricks of Oxnard High, also is at the crossroads. He is contemplating whether to accept sixth-round money from the Atlanta Braves or a scholarship to Cal State Northridge.

Merricks at least can draw advice from his brother, Charles, UCLA’s center fielder the last two seasons who was drafted as a pitcher by the Colorado Rockies in the 17th round. Charles, a junior left-hander, signed Thursday.

“I don’t find it life-threatening, but it’s hard,” Matthew Merricks said. “You want to go to college and enjoy the college life. . . . But if you go to college and you don’t get drafted then, I don’t know how many people could live with having had that chance [of turning pro] and passing it up.”

Outfielder Jason Kubel is leaving no room for what-ifs. The Highland slugger is forfeiting a scholarship to Long Beach State to take $80,000 from the Twins, who selected him in the 12th round.

“I talked to quite a few people, but I really wanted to go pro,” Kubel said. “It was more of a relief than anything else.”

Holding a college scholarship is a strong bargaining chip. Shortstop Conor Jackson of El Camino Real, perhaps the best all-around player in the region, made it clear he would go to California unless a club met his asking price of more than $1 million. Just in case, the Cleveland Indians grabbed him in the 31st round.

“My first option is to go to college,” Jackson said. “I probably priced myself out of the draft. I was in a win-win situation.”

Others are in a strange situation. Consider Kurt Birkins, an All-City left-hander at El Camino Real in 1998 and the school’s pitching coach this season.

Birkins, much to his surprise, was picked two rounds below Jackson by the Baltimore Orioles--as an outfielder. He wasn’t drafted out of high school and has a scholarship to UCLA, although he sat out this season.

“[The Orioles] want me to go to Baltimore for [an amateur] wood-bat league this summer,” said Birkins, who is nursing a broken right arm. “I have some time to think about [turning pro].

“It’s fun to have to make all these decisions. . . . Pro baseball is my dream, so that always has to be a serious consideration.”

While some can flash their scholarship offers to bluff clubs, guys such as pitcher Mike Schultz hardly have that luxury anymore. He is a right-hander with one year remaining at Loyola Marymount, the school he chose after turning down about $80,000 from the Philadelphia Phillies out of Cleveland High three years ago.

But unlike college juniors who don’t project so highly as major-leaguers, Schultz is on a different level. He is a 6-foot-8 hard-thrower selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second round. That puts Schultz in a high-rent neighborhood, possibly as much as $1 million.

“I want to sign and start playing,” Schultz said. “There’s a little disagreement on both sides.”

Schultz downplays the notion that college juniors don’t have as much leverage as other players during contract talks.

“If you don’t sign, a team loses you [the following year],” Schultz said.

For Newbury Park’s Hamer, waiting for next year sounds fine. He turned down the Twins and a scholarship to Iowa State to enroll at Moorpark College. By going to a junior college, Hamer is not locked into a four-year school through his junior season and can test the professional waters next June.

“It’s always been my goal to play professional baseball and this way I can still sign at the end of next season,” Hamer said.

As long as the strings pull him in that direction.