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June 6,
2006
At 1:00pm
EST, the Kansas City Royals announced Luke Hochevar as their
first #1 draft pick in franchise history. Hochevar has to be one
of the happiest people on the planet right now. He defied the
odds after refusing to sign with the Dodgers last year to jump
up 40 spots in this year’s draft to go #1 overall. However, the
road for this year’s top MLB draftee was not a smooth ride by
any means.
About a
year ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers selected the Tennessee alum
with the 40th pick of the 2005 MLB draft. Hochevar,
represented by super-agent Scott Boras, had the talent to go in
the top 5 picks, but signability concerns caused him to drop to
the supplemental 1st round. After lengthy
negotiations and an ensuing circus of events involving alleged
agent-switching, the Dodgers made one final offer of 2.98
million dollars. Hochevar wanted more and sat out most of the
remaining months until he auditioned for the draft with the
Dallas-Ft. Worth Cats of the Independent League four weeks ago.
Albeit a
bit rusty, Hochevar showed that he still had the stuff to be a
top 10 pick. A weaker than usual draft class didn’t hurt either.
Don’t get us wrong, Hochevar is all that and a bag of chips. But
some teams still question the Royals’ decision to give the #1
spot to a player that spurned the system last year and left egg
on the face of several well-respected scouts and front-office
managers.
Hochevar
didn’t help ease concerns about his professionalism today when
he alluded to Dodgers’ scouting director Logan White’s perceived
lack of enthusiasm to get a deal done during a press conference
today. Hochevar said,
“The
negotiations last year with the Dodgers, the scouting director
felt that I wasn't worthy to be paid with the top college
pitchers of last year's draft. And I learned that a scouting
director can make or break an organization.”
For Luke
Hochevar, last year’s debacle is now water under the bridge and
he seems eager to start playing, stating,
“It
should be a pretty quick negotiation. It sounds like the Royals
are ready to get it done and get me out playing.”
When he
will make his professional debut is another matter. The #1
draft-pick relates,
“Those
discussions will be between Scott and the Royals. They took me
with the understanding of getting me out quick and getting me
going. The business side, Scott and the Royals will take care of
that. They work well together. I am just excited to be a part of
the organization and I am ready to bust my tail for them and
work as hard as I can for them.”
So, we congratulate Luke for his incredible achievement.
Hochevar could easily have ended up in a worse situation as he
had little to no leverage in this draft. It is for this reason
that we do expect his prediction for a short negation to come
true. We wish him the best of luck and hope to see his electric
arm on the mound very soon.
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