First-round selection could come with excess baggage
Junior shortstop Kevin Newman is likely to become the 10th University of Arizona player selected in the first round of the modern baseball regular draft Monday; Baseball America’s final mock draft on Friday ranked him No. 23 overall.
Newman doesn’t know this, and probably wouldn’t care, but if there is such a thing as a jinx in UA sports, it is being selected in the first round of the baseball draft.
None of Arizona’s nine first-round picks enjoyed a long and productive playing career. Here’s the sad roll call:
- Terry Francona, No. 22 overall, 1980. The NCAA Player of the Year averaged just 47 hits per season in a big-league career betrayed by two major knee injuries. He played as a part-time outfielder until 31, but was initially released by Montreal when he was just 27.
- Joe Magrane, No. 18 overall, 1985. The St. Louis lefty won 18 games when he was just 24, but arm injuries thereafter made him a fringe player; he was initially released at 28, and won just 57 MLB games.
- Alan Zinter, No. 24 overall, 1989. It took the lefty-hitting catcher 13 years to reach the big leagues. He had just 13 hits in the majors.
- Lance Dickson, No. 23 overall, 1990. The lefty with a big breaking ball reached the Cubs’ 1990 starting rotation at 20, blew out his arm, and played just three MLB games.
- Ben Diggins, No. 17 overall, 2000. In his second season as a pro, the tall right-hander was in the majors at Milwaukee. He pitched five games, injured his arm, and never returned to the big leagues.
- Brian Anderson, No. 15 overall, 2003. It didn’t take the former UA and CDO center fielder long to reach the White Sox lineup — two years — but he had just 181 hits in five seasons and played his last MLB game at 27.
- Trevor Crowe, No. 14 overall, 2005. The UA outfielder enjoyed one season as an MLB starter, 2009 at Cleveland, and thereafter was done in by multiple injuries. He had 196 hits in four seasons.
- Ryan Perry, No. 21 overall, 2008. In parts of four MLB seasons, the former UA and Marana High right-hander won six games and saved two. He, too, was scuttled by a series of injuries.
- Daniel Schlereth, No. 26 overall, 2008. The UA’s lefty closer was in the big leagues at 23 and out at 26. Career totals: five wins, one save.
All nine Wildcats picked in the first round had their pro careers abbreviated by injuries.
Francona has become one of the game’s top managers; Magrane is an established studio analyst for the MLB Network; Zinter has enjoyed a career as a MLB coach; Diggins is a scout for the Dodgers; Dickson runs a thriving mortgage business in Tucson; Perry and Schlereth are in the minor leagues, hoping for one more shot.
Is it a baseball jinx, or just a series of unfortunate circumstances? Newman, who could realize a signing bonus of about $2 million, has a chance to change history.
