Homegrown talent: League, Sardinha top local pro baseball draft prospects

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kamehameha infielder Bronson Sardinha, left, and St. Louis pitcher Brandon League are confident in their abilities at the next level. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Recent high school graduates Brandon League, a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher out of St. Louis School, and Bronson "Bully" Sardinha, a power-hitting infielder out of The Kamehameha Schools, are projected by Prospects Plus scouting service as the 53rd and 80th players in a list of the top 180 prospects released Tuesday. That would place League in the second round and Sardinha in the third. A Baseball America Online mock draft placed League as a supplemental first-round pick (44th overall).

Nebraska All-America right-handed pitcher Shane Komine, a 1998 graduate of Kalani High, is ranked 148th, which would place him in the fifth round.

The 50-round draft starts at 7 a.m. Hawai'i time Tuesday with the first 20 rounds. The draft continues at 6 a.m. Wednesday with the remaining rounds. Nearly 1,500 players — some teams do not use all their picks — will be drafted out of high school, college and junior colleges from the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

Last year, Punahou graduate Justin Wayne, an All-America pitcher at Stanford, was the fifth overall selection of the Montreal Expos. Kamehameha graduate Dane Sardinha, Bronson's brother and an All-America catcher at Pepperdine, was a second-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1999, Waipahu graduate Jerome Williams, a right-handed pitcher, was the supplemental first-round pick — the 39th overall selection — of the San Francisco Giants.

Wayne is the highest draft pick for a player with ties to Hawai'i, while Williams remains the highest draft pick out of a Hawai'i high school.

College option, but . . .

Bronson Sardinha and League, both 18, have negotiating leverage as each has a baseball scholarship to Pepperdine. But both indicated they are anxious to turn pro.

"I want to go out and start my professional career right now," Sardinha said. "There's no doubt that I would succeed in professional baseball. But if the money isn't there, I wouldn't have any regret about going to college. I could wait that three years."

Added League: "I'm telling everybody I'm signable."

Sardinha knows first hand about drafts. He has been through two through Dane, now at the Reds' Class-A affiliate Mudville (Stockton, Calif.). Dane graduated from Kamehameha in 1997 as the best catching prospect and was still considered tops again in last year's draft after his junior year at Pepperdine. But his adviser was Scott Boras, who has negotiated some of the most lucrative contracts in the game. Dane was advised to turn down a reported $750,000 from the Kansas City Royals, who made him a second-round pick out of high school. He then had a season-long negotiation with the Reds after last year's draft. In lieu of a bonus, he signed a six-year major league contract guaranteeing $1.95 million with incentive clauses that could bring the total value to $2.4 million.

Agents and advisers

Bronson said he is not using an adviser and will let his parents handle the negotiations.

"I think that helped my stock a lot," Bronson said. "Most teams that have contacted me, the first thing they ask is if you have an agent. 'Is your agent Scott Boras? Or is your adviser Scott Boras.' We tell them 'No' and they seem very happy about it. They go, 'OK that's good. (laugh).' I think if I said his name, they'd all back away like how they did with my brother."

In recent years, Boras' clients have slid down the draft as teams were reluctant to deal with the agent.

(While Sardinha did not get a signing bonus, like Wayne's $2.95 million from the Expos, his contract placed him on the Reds' 40-man roster, thus guaranteeing he will make the major leagues by his third season at the latest.)

But League has secured Danny Horwits of the Beverly Hills Sports Council, the agency that represents Hawai'i player New York Mets outfielder Benny Agbayani, Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Mike Fetters and minor leaguers Keoni De Renne and Jandin Thornton-Murray. Horwits is technically an "adviser" and doesn't become a client's agent until the client turns pro.

Teams talk to the players, some telling them they might get picked in the first or second rounds. But League and Sardinha know there will be quirks and some of those teams will bypass them, so they don't hold their breath.

Sardinha said he would lean toward signing if he is taken in the first two rounds. But he wouldn't rule out signing if he slipped past the second round.

"It doesn't matter what round I get picked in," he said. "It's just if they pay me the money that I want, then I'll go. It's not a round thing. If they pay for my talent, I'll sign."

What is intriguing is which teams have a better chance at drafting them. Because of free agent signing compensation, the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians each have five picks within the first two rounds, including the supplemental round between the first and second rounds.

"We have a pretty good chance of getting them," said Indians' scout Darren Chun, who added his organization's cross checkers, supervisors and scouting director have seen both play.

But each player is not worried where he ends up so long as he gets to the big leagues someday.

"It's always been my dream ever since I was a little kid, playing for the KAC Yankees," League said. "I've always watched pro ball and wondered if I would have a chance. Now that I have a chance, why not take it."

Other potential picks

In each of the past two years, an all-time high of 14 players with ties to Hawai'i were drafted. That is not expected this time.

Others who are expected to drafted are Long Beach State junior infielder Kaulana Kuhaulua (Wai'anae '98), Arizona State senior outfielder Jonah Martin (Kamehameha '96), University of Hawai'i junior right-handed pitcher Jeff Coleman and Sacramento City College shortstop Rex Rundgren (Mid-Pacific '99).

Kuhaulua, son of former major league pitcher Fred Kuhaulua, was drafted the last two years out of Los Angeles City College by the Detroit Tigers (39th round in 1999) and the St. Louis Cardinals (17th round in 2000). Rundgren was drafted in the 24th round by the Boston Red Sox out of MPI in 1999.

Long shots

Prospects Plus lists by state show four other high school seniors besides League and Sardinha. They are Moloka'i shortstop Kelii Alcon, Pearl City catcher Gavin Concepcion, Kamehameha first baseman Alika Kuraoka and Kamehameha right-handed pitcher Hubert Pruett.

In a state-by-state listing in Prospects Plus is UH-Hilo senior outfielder Ryan Petersen

Petersen and teammates Brian Rooke, a senior outfielder, and right-handed pitcher Anthony Bernal all said they had been approached by scouts and are hoping to at least land free agent contracts if they are not drafted. Rainbows' third baseman Patrick Scalabrini also is hoping to be drafted or sign as a free agent.

Rainbows' junior designated hitter Gregg Omori is eligible for the draft. But tendinitis in his throwing arm prevented him from playing defense most of the season and hampers his chances. His alternative might be the Japanese professional leagues. Omori led UH with a .367 batting average with 11 home runs, 25 doubles and 62 RBIs.

Other high school players who might get a shot are Kaua'i left-handed pitcher Mark Rodrigues and Kamehameha first baseman Kelii Correa.

Notes

Saddleback JC left-handed pitcher Reid Santos was a draft-and-follow by the Expos (23rd round) out of Castle High last year. He was 6-3, 3.19 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 67‡ innings at the JC, but suffered an elbow injury that will require "Tommy John Surgery," which will be performed by renowned orthopedic surgeon Lewis Yocum, according to Santos' father, Aldon Santos.

Santos is likely to miss the entire 2002 season. UH pitcher Wakon Childers also had the same surgery in which the rehabilitation process forced him to miss the 2000 season.

Yocum also performed shoulder surgery on Kansas City farmhand Kahi Kaanoi during the offseason. The right-handed pitcher was a seventh-round pick out of Kamehameha last year. He has been in extended spring training while his shoulder heals.