VLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT
Rehabbing Guerrero swings by in Tampa
No, it’s not the call-up Blue Jays fans have been crying for all season long, not with top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. nursing a knee injury that will keep him out for at least a month. Since he was in the neighbourhood — after getting checked out at the Jays’ facility in Dunedin — Guerrero picked up a visitor’s pass and dropped by to see Teoscar Hernandez and the Jays take on the Rays in the opener of a three-game series in Tampa. Hernandez homered, but the Jays fell 8-4 to snap a four-game win streak.
With the Major League Baseball draft now complete, the Blue Jays’ short-season teams are about to get underway in three cities, with rosters stocked with new prospects and young pro players already in the system who have been kept on at extended spring training, awaiting this chance.
One player the Blue Jays drafted last week, shortstop Drew LaBounty, won’t be on any of the lineup cards for Vancouver (Class-A Northwest League), Bluefield (Rookie Appalachian League) or the Gulf Coast Blue Jays (Rookie Gulf Coast League), but it was a fabulous selection and should be recognized as such.
With the 1,196th pick in the 40th and final round, the Jays went for the 21-year-old senior from the University of South Alabama. Traditionally, that final round can be used as a courtesy pick, maybe for sons of friends of the organization. But this selection was far more than that.
The odds of someone from that final round reaching the majors are understood to be long — the last player signed out of the 40th round to make it to The Show was righthander Brandon Kintzler, who was drafted by the Padres in 2004 and finally made his MLB debut with the Brewers in 2010. There have been 449 selections in that round since Kintzler. MLB teams are 0-for-449.
With that as background, here is how the Blue Jays decided to use their final pick this year.
LaBounty — five-foot-seven and 170 pounds, was the Jaguars’ captain entering his senior year at South Alabama on a team that was loaded with draft prospects. The Jags had six players drafted, led by outfielder Travis Swaggerty at No. 10 overall to the Pirates. But LaBounty, a native of Pensacola, Fla., had been a two-time Sun Belt Conference all-star and was recognized as the heart and soul of his team.
On Feb. 2, in an intrasquad scrimmage prior to the start of the conference schedule, LaBounty was struck in the right eye by a foul tip, suffering severe damage to the orbital socket and the eye itself. After several rounds of surgery, it was determined his playing career was over. After a lifetime of striving to attain his goal, LaBounty was suddenly finished.
Meanwhile, the Jays’ scouting department was expressing serious interest in Swaggerty as their first pick, 12th overall. Area scout Don Norris had followed the Jaguars closely and when it was getting to crunch time, he brought Jays scouting director Steve Sanders with him to a Jags game, a required final step.
“We were down at the last series, home weekend for South Alabama, where they did senior day,” Norris recalled. “LaBounty was a senior and you have your parents come out there. He went out on the field (with his dad Richard) and it was a very touching … it just kind of hit you, you know what I mean.
“I think it hit Steve. I had known about the situation all year. I think Steve knew the story, but him being there is … what probably hit him and gave him the idea. I would give way more credit to him than me. He asked me my opinion and I said: Hey, that’s great. (Sanders) is the one that made it happen.”
Six Jaguars were drafted over the three days, but none as emotionally satisfying as the Jays’ selection of LaBounty. As is customary, the Jays placed a phone call to the player, including Jags head coach Mark Calvi.
“I called (Drew) after the draft and he was out on the field helping coach little kids,” Norris said. “He’s coaching a (kids) team and he called me back. We touched base right after that and he was totally pumped. I kind of go back with the South Alabama coaches. They all were very, very, very pumped.”
The feel-good gesture by the Jays extended beyond the LaBounty family and Jaguars coaches. Norris talked about the reaction from the injured shortstop’s teammates, who personally reached out to thank the Jays and show their support.
“Probably one of the best things I got was from one of his teammates (third baseman Brendan Donovan, a seventhround selection by the St. Louis Cardinals) that reached out back to me and was very appreciative for his teammate, that that happened for Drew,” Norris said. “He was actually a great, great kid. Just to have one of your teammates reach out like that shows what kind of team, how they thought of that kid and how close those guys all were. They all came in together so they’ve been around each other.
“I didn’t think (the impact) hit me as bad when it happened, but you get a little bit more emotional when you start talking to people about it. Steve reached out and talked to the kid as well. Drew was very, very fired up and appreciative.”
In a season where the Jays are struggling to keep up in the AL East, this draft moment with LaBounty was a clear victory.