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Sports
The Battalion
Page 3 • Wednesday, June 5,
Seven Aggies picked in day one of MLB draft
Ballouli selected by Brewers in sixth round
GUY ROGERS • THE BATTALION
■unior right-hander Khalid Ballouli was the first Aggie selected on day one of the First-Year
I’layers Draft on Tuesday. A&M tied Texas for having the most draftees in the Big 12.
By True Brown
THE BATTALION
Seven Texas A&M baseball players
were selected in the first day of Major
League Baseball’s First-Year Players
Draft on Tuesday. Four pitchers, two
outfielders and one infielder were
among the Aggies drafted.
Junior right-hander Khalid
Ballouli was the first A&M player
taken, going to the Milwaukee
Brewers in the sixth round. Ballouli,
the Aggies’ Friday night pitcher this
season, completed the year with a 6-4
record and a 4.44 ERA.
In addition to Ballouli, pitchers
Ryan Warpinski (Florida Marlins,
eighth round), Todd Deininger
(Chicago White Sox, ninth round) and
Steven Ponder (Colorado Rockies,
15th round) were selected.
A&M head coach Mark Johnson
said he had not heard any definitive
plans from the players.
“Scouts haven’t had time yet to
make contact with players, and I
haven’t really had time yet to talk to
most of the guys,” Johnson said. “The
pro teams have to get in contact with
the players in 10 days, so it is too early
to know what will happen.”
Johnson said while there were no
actual surprises Tuesday, he was sur
prised that catcher Rusty Meyer —
selected in the 13th round by Kansas
City — did not get picked earlier.
“I thought (Meyer) should have
gone a little higher,” Johnson said.
“He missed several games with an
injury and since he was hurt so much,
his value for next year would proba
bly go up if he decided to stick
around another year.”
Meyer missed 25 games this season
due to a strained shoulder muscle, but
managed to throw out 21-of-32 on
stolen base attempts. From the plate,
Meyer finished 2002 with a .321 bat
ting average, four home runs and 19
RBIs and was named the team’s MVP.
Warpinski, who struggled with a 2-
5 record and a 4.68 ERA in 2002, was
the second Aggie selected. The sopho
more from Maribel, Wis., underwent
Tommy John surgery on his right arm
in 2000 and was granted a medical
redshirt that season.
“The surgery is something that
takes about two years to rehab,”
Johnson said. “I thought Florida can
get a pretty good deal on him.”
Outfielders Eric Reed (Marlins,
ninth round) and Neal Stephenson
(Baltimore Orioles, 14th round) were
also picked Tuesday.
Johnson said he is expecting to lose
a few players to the pros.
“We have some guys we think will
end up signing and going. Ballouli
will probably leave, and we are also
expecting to lose Deininger and
Ponder. I’m not surprised at that. If
these guys want to play (in MLB) this
is a great chance.”
commi'
Is it the Curse of Aggie Alley?
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the future
oston Red Sox fans blame their
84-year drought of World Series
victories on the “Curse of the
ambino.” In 1920, Babe
uth was sold to the
ankees and the Boston
^ns have experienced
othing but heartache
ver since.
Aggie baseball fans
lave a curse of their own
lin king over the left field wall of Olsen
field — “The Curse of Aggie Alley.”
I After the Athletic Department decided
l> charge $50 to park in Aggie Alley fol
lowing the 1999 season, the fans stopped
coming along with the incredible number
of long balls hit in ‘99. The Aggie offense
th acquihas been anemic, finishing near the bot-
ate rape] ;
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DALLAS SHIPP
tom of the Big 12 each of the last three
years.
In 1999, the Aggies went to the
College World Series in
Omaha, Neb. A&M fin
ished the ‘99 season with
128 home runs, including a
team record of 35 by
Daylan Holt. They finished
with a team batting average
of .322, scored 591 runs and
sported an overall record of 52-18.
However, 1999 was the last year for
Aggie Alley and the last year that the
Olsen faithful have seen such incredible
offensive numbers.
In 2000, the Aggies lost eight of their
nine starters from the power-hitting 1999
squad. 2000 also marked the beginning
of three miserable offensive years for
A&M. The Aggies hit a measly .283 as a
team and cranked out just 45 home runs
as they finished the year 12 games
below .500.
The 2001 squad did not fare much
better. They did return to a plus-.500
record, but hit only 42 home runs and
held a batting average of .291.
The 2002 team was expected to be
different. They were going to be the team
that would return Aggie baseball to its
glory days of ’98 and ’99. As the season
began, it appeared that dream would
become reality. The Aggies quickly
jumped to a 26-10 record. A&M fans
See Curse on page 4
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RUBEN DELUNA AND RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
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