When Daniel Nava smacked the first pitch of his major-league career into the Red Sox bullpen for a grand slam on June 12, it must have sent shivers through the likes of George Sherrill, Rod Barajas, and Heath Bell. For it was yet another in an increasing line of undrafted success stories in Major League Baseball.
Just ask the San Diego Padres. Their successful 2010 campaign has been spearheaded by “The Pen-itentiary”, with fellow undrafted pitcher Mike Adams paving the way for Bell in the back end of the Padres bullpen. To boot, lefty specialist Joe Thatcher also never heard his name on draft day, nor did the ageless Matt Stairs.
Because the baseball draft sees over 1,500 players’ names called, one would assume that it would be hard for anyone with any considerable talent to fall through the cracks. But that’s the funny thing about baseball. It isn’t necessarily the kind of sport that requires you to be the biggest, strongest, fastest, or even most coordinated.
Take Sherrill, for example. He is left-handed, which we all know does carry its fair share of weight for pitchers in baseball. But before he became a closer in Baltimore in 2009, he was a journeyman in the Independent League some 10 years prior. Now a Dodger, all he needs to do is stare in to his battery mate to see someone who can relate.
Barajas never drew any interest in 87 rounds in 1995, yet here he is finding steady work 15 years later.
The point here isn’t that we are going to be seeing any of these guys in the Hall of Fame any time soon. Alas, while Darren O’Day and John Axford are having quality seasons in the bullpens of Texas and Milwaukee, respectively, they still aren’t households names. But the point is that given the right situation, a player that has been developed properly and has the will and desire can succeed in baseball. By the same token, a bonus baby can just as easily be driven down the wrong path and never fulfill expectations.
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