Updated June 11 at 2:30 PM, Ben Schorzman
BEN SCHORZMAN | SPORTS EDITOR
With the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft complete, 10 players with connections to the University of Oregon were drafted in the 50-round marathon. Now the athletes must decide if they should stay or go pro.
Current Ducks Erik Stavert, Drew Gagnier and Bennett Whitmore were chosen, as were Oregon recruits Tyler Matzek, Jake Marisnick, Braxton Lane, Jack Marder, Brett Hambright, J.J. Altobelli and Tim Berry.
“I’m elated about how the draft went for our current and future Ducks,” head coach George Horton said. “They all deserve it.”
Stavert went in the seventh round to the Colorado Rockies with the 211 overall pick, but despite being drafted, he was a little disappointed with how low he went.
“It’s a little disappointing,” the junior right hander said. “I feel like I should have gone a little bit higher…but the draft is out of control. It makes no sense sometimes and it’s hard to tell where you’ll end up. The Rockies are a great organization.”
Stavert, who was 5-6 as a starter, felt that his 3.04 ERA and Pacific-10 Honorable Mention might have bumped him up into the fifth round or even higher, but now he will just have to wait. He’s moving to the Bay Area for the summer where he will be lifting weights and doing a throwing program in preparation for whatever he decides.
“It will be more beneficial for me to do a throwing program than to play in a summer league,” he said. “I’m going to make sure I’m ready to compete.”
Stavert is leaning towards signing with the Rockies and his coach expects him to leave for the pros instead of coming back to Eugene.
“We’re probably going to lose Stavert,” Horton said. “I wish him well with the Rockies. They’re a great ball club.”
The Rockies have yet to make him an offer, but once they do he will have until August 17 to decide his future.
The same goes for Gagnier, who appeared in 23 games as a closer with a 2.70 ERA and seven saves. The Pac-10 Honorable Mention member was drafted in the fourteenth round by the Oakland Athletics with the 423 overall pick and will now have to decide between the U of O and pro.
“I’m excited,” Gagnier said, who grew up about an hour away from Oakland in Santa Cruz. “This is something I’ve worked for since little league. It was surreal to see my name up on the draft board.”
However, the situation is a little bit different from Stavert’s because Gagnier asked for fourth or fifth round money because he was projected to go higher earlier in the season. The A’s have yet to say if they will take him up on the deal, but right now he’s 70-to-30 on staying at Oregon. The A’s will watch him over the summer while he plays in the Cape Cod League in Massachusetts and then decide what to do with him.
“I’m still leaning towards going back to Eugene,” he said. “But if I get a serious offer, who knows?”
“I think there’s a good chance of seeing Drew Gagnier pitching in a Duck uniform next spring,” Horton said.
Both teammates are happy for each other, although Stavert said that he was a little jealous because the A’s are his favorite team.
“I’m happy for (Drew),” Stavert said. “Oakland is a great team. They’re known for developing young pitching.”
Gagnier laughed when he was told that Stavert liked the A’s, but he says that Stavert will fit right in with the Rockies if he decides to leave school.
“Erik has an awesome work ethic,” he said. “He works so hard and Colorado is a good place too. He’ll do great.”
Senior left hander Bennett Whitmore was also selected in the draft. He went in the thirty-second round to the Seattle Mariners. He was 1-6 with a 6.17 ERA this year.
Along with the three current players, seven recruits for the 2009 season were also chosen. Horton had worried that the draft would devastate his recruiting class, but he only expects Matzek to sign. If that happened, it would be better than expected, he says.
“I’ll be happy with that,” he said. “We could potentially lose just two guys and that would be great.”
Matzek, a senior left handed pitcher from Mission Viejo, California, was drafted in the first round by the Rockies with the eleventh overall pick. He led Capistrano Valley High School to a 26-6 record with a 1.16 ERA and 13 wins and one loss.
It’s highly unlikely that Matzek will choose to play at the UO considering the money he would be turning down. However, it has happened in the past when UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole turned down millions of dollars to play college baseball.
Then outfielder Jake Marisnick was selected in the fourth round with the one hundred and fourth overall pick by the Toronto Blue Jays. Marisnick is a senior from Riverside Poly Tech High School in Riverside, California, and he hit .415 this season with 29 RBI’s, five home runs and 22 stolen bases.
Even though Marisnick was a high draft pick, Horton says that he might not sign and come play for Oregon instead.
“We might be able to hang onto Marisnick,” Horton said. “He’s a future first rounder if he plays in college in my opinion.”
The next pick came when the Texas Rangers selected Braxton Lane with two hundred and fourteenth overall pick in the seventh round–just three after Stavert was taken.
Lane, who signed his National Letter of Intent to play football for the Oregon football team this fall, is a speedy switch-hitter and has family ties within the state of Oregon. His father, Carl, played football at Oregon State from 1985 to 1986.
Jack Marder, a short stop from Calabasas, California was taken in the thirtieth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, followed by Brett Hambright–a catcher from Corona, California–in the thirty-eighth round by the Rockies.
Rounding out the draft was J.J. Altobelli of Newport Beach, California and Tim Berry of San Marcos, California. Altobelli, a short stop, was drafted in the forty-ninth round by the Milwaukee Brewers, and Berry (left handed pitcher) was drafted in the fiftieth round by the Baltimore Orioles.
BEN SCHORZMAN
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