June 10, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

They're ready to move on

by Rick Eymer

John Mayberry, Jr. has probably been to more major league baseball games than the rest of his Stanford teammates combined. It helps to have a former major league player and coach as a father.

Jed Lowrie, who grew up in Salem, Ore., has been to less than a dozen games, and had to drive at least 4 1/2 hours to do so.

Mayberry feels comfortable standing around the cage during batting practice and playing catch with the likes of former MLB and NFL great Bo Jackson.

The closest Lowrie has been to the batting cage is from the front row seats in Seattle.

After Tuesday, the two Cardinal baseball teammates could start planning on meeting at the cage in a major league ballpark some time in the near future. Mayberry, Jr. was taken by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the MLB first-year player draft with the 19th overall pick, while Lowrie was taken by the Boston Red Sox as a compensation pick between the first and second round, the 45th overall pick.

Left-hander Mark Romanczuk was selected in the fourth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

On the second day of the draft Wednesday, pitchers Pete Duda and Jeff Gilmore and catcher John Hester were selected.

Duda went to the Diamondbacks with the first pick of the 20th round (591st overall) while Gilmore was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 31st round (923rd overall). Hester was chosen by the Red Sox in the 34th round (1,008th overall).

Mayberry, whom one scout compared to Chicago Cubs' first baseman Derrick Lee, didn't know he had been drafted until he called his mother. Lowrie knew when he was finally able to turn his cell phone back on and started shifting through 14 voicemails and numerous text messages.

Mayberry and Lowrie were on an airplane, flying back from Monday's disappointing 12-inning 4-3 loss to Baylor in the finals of the Waco Regional.

"It was the longest flight of my life," said Mayberry, who admitted to being a little anxious.

Mayberry and Lowrie began Tuesday with a 4:30 a.m. Central time wake-up call. The day included a bus ride from Waco to Houston, and then an afternoon press conference, still dressed in coat and tie from the flight, to talk about the draft.

Any chance they might be sleepy?

"I'm wide awake," Lowrie said.

Romanczuk couldn't make the press conference. He was too busy taking a final. Lowrie and Mayberry didn't have much of a chance to celebrate their new stature - they needed time to study for their final on Wednesday.

Now both are eager to get their new careers going.

"I've got as much information as I can have," Mayberry said. "My dad has told me everything. He congratulated me and told me to be ready for what pro ball has to offer."

Mayberry, with a .312 career average, 28 homers, 148 RBI and 19 stolen bases, caused a stir when he turned down the Seattle Mariners, who made him their first round pick (26th overall) in the 2002. He was the only first round pick now to sign that year, choosing to attend Stanford. He's a quarter away from graduation, and expects to receive his degree in political science in December.

"I got the best of both worlds," Mayberry said. "I got a Stanford education, which caused me to postpone my baseball career. But you can't put a numerical value on that because it leads to so much more."

Lowrie wasn't drafted out of high school, and wouldn't have signed anyway. He was preparing for college all along. His baseball value skyrocketed because of his success with the Cardinal.

"I never thought I wouldn't be drafted," Lowrie said. "That's just the way I am. I set high goals. I don't think I ever cared where I would be drafted, but being the first round is a thrill. I just wanted the opportunity to play."

Lowrie has a .338 career mark with 31 homers, 162 RBI and 16 stolen bases. He was named first team All-American the past two years.

The Rangers project Mayberry as a right fielder, and drafted him as such. Some teams were scared off because scouts felt he would go after a law degree instead of a baseball career. Mayberry was pretty adamant that baseball is his chosen profession, and is sincere in making it a lifelong pursuit.

"It's a great organization with a great new ballpark," Mayberry said. "They are a first class team. I had a lot of teams interested in me possibly playing the outfield. I'm open to it and all for it."

Mayberry was an outfielder in the Cape Cod League and with Team USA last summer.

In his younger days Mayberry hung around the Kansas City Royals when his father was a coach. He played around in the clubhouse and gravitated toward Jackson, one of the more out-going personalities in baseball at the time.

"We played around a lot," Mayberry said. "He was one of the most popular players and when my dad was busy he would play catch with me on the field. He's a friendly guy."

Last year, when Danny Putnam signed with the Oakland Athletics, they had him come to the Coliseum to take batting practice with the team before a game. Lowrie, who has never been to Boston, would love the opportunity at Fenway Park.

"I wouldn't know where to start," Lowrie said. "I would have so many questions for those guys. I'd probably try to get a bat from one of them. It would be a thrill to go to Fenway Park with all that history there, and them being World Champs. What else can you say?"

Well, for starters Jed, you can dream large.

Romanczuk has a 28-11 career record to rank tied for sixth on Stanford's all-time victory list, and a 4.18 ERA. He struck out 257 in 329 1/3 innings, eighth on Stanford's all-time list.

Gilmore has a 20-5 record in 40 career appearances. He was 10-2 with a 4.43 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 107 2/3 innings last year, and earned the team's Most Improved Player honors.

Hester started 58 games, playing every inning. He hit .282 with five homers, 41 RBI and seven stolen bases. Defensively, he made just four errors in 458 defensive chances for a .991 fielding percentage and had only four passed balls to rank tied for the best of all qualifying catchers in the Pac-10.

Duda did not see any game action. He made four appearances in his three-year Stanford career, going 0-0 with an 8.44 ERA and striking out two in 5 1/3 innings.

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