Baseball: Draft eligibles stay focused

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, May 29, 2013

The decision is bound to be a tough one for all involved.

Stay in school at UL, and return to a probable Sun Belt title-contending team, or go pro after their name is called in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft that runs June 6-8?

Perhaps even harder, however, for Ragin’ Cajuns with the best shot at getting drafted – catcher Michael Strentz, right-fielder Dex Kjerstad, centerfielder Seth Harrison – is trying to not think about any of that when UL plays in this weekend’s LSU-hosted Baton Rouge NCAA Regional.

They’re doing their best not to, though.

“It’s out of my control,” said Kjerstad, who was drafted in the 50th round by the Cincinnati Reds in 2010 coming out of Randall High in Amarillo, Texas, and started his career instead with one season at the University of Texas. “I’m just getting lost in (the postseason), and playing hard, and let the chips fall where they may.”

“I’m not really too worried about the draft right now,” Harrison added. “If that happens, it happens. That’s great. But my overall focus is on the Regionals. That’s my No. 1 right now. Ragin’ Cajuns first.”

The sentiments are similar for Strentz, a Comeaux High product ranked No. 320 on Baseball America’s Top 500 draft preview list.

“I know the draft’s a big deal and everybody wants to go play MLB and make it up there,” he said, “but, as of right now, my main focus on LSU and going to that Regional, and getting the wins over there, and then worrying about the draft after that.”

The Cajuns open NCAA Tournament play with a 7 p.m. game Friday vs. Sam Houston State, and would play LSU on Saturday night if both they and the Tigers win their first Regional game.

The best way to avoid the draft becoming a distraction at this time of year, UL coach Tony Robichaux suggested, is to be upfront about the process.

“We listen to the scouts, we know they’re asking about, we know who they’re sending paperwork on, we know who they’re calling,” he said. “So what we try to ward it off early by sitting with them, trying to talk to their families, talking to them, making sure they understand it, at least.

“By them understanding it, it makes it their friend instead of their enemy. Because if you don’t talk about it, if you don’t embrace it, then it goes underground, and you don’t want that to happen.

“You see, everything is nothing but a projection. Everything is nothing but, really, an educated guess,” Robichaux added. “So that’s the thing you’re dealing with.”

It’s better to be open and honest, in words, than to foster secrets.

“We try to keep it above-board, so nobody is whispering,” Robichaux said.

“We don’t want the rest of the team thinking they (the pro prospects) are worried about themselves and not thinking about the team, and that kind of stuff – because it can take on an accidental thing, I think, if you don’t keep it out in the open.”

Having players drafted before their senior season is not necessarily a bad thing for the program.

(Once at UL, as with all other NCAA Division I programs, they can go after their third year of college ball or at age 21.)

Kjerstad and Harrison, each of whom transferred this season to UL from a Texas junior college, both have one season of eligibility remaining.

Strentz, who was redshirted following Tommy John surgery last season, has two.

“We want the draft in here,” Robichaux said. “We want players to play through us, not to us. If there are no scouts showing up … then that means we don’t have that much talent. So you’ve got to accept what comes with it.”