bat, quickness heading

into Tuesday’s MLB draft

By

ADAM DAIGLE

Numbers, numbers, numbers. Don’t ask Alcorn State second baseman Corey Wimberly about numbers.

He’s growing tired of his take on them, his numbers from college and how many teams are interested in him in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft come Tuesday.

&uot;I talked to a lot of teams,&uot; said Wimberly, the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Player of the Year. &uot;I can’t even tell you how many. I’ve been getting different teams calling every day. I just want to play ball. I’m not really concerned about different types of numbers.&uot;

Yet it is anyone’s guess where the little Alcorn State standout with a quick bat and even quicker feet on the basepaths will wind up Tuesday. He’s slated to be the first Alcorn player chosen in the draft since Greenville native Keiver Campbell was chosen in the 12th round by the Toronto Blue Jays back in 1991.

&uot;I have a feeling he will get drafted, and I think he’ll be drafted higher than some people think,&uot; Mississippi Valley head coach Doug Shanks said. &uot;I think he could go around the 10th round but probably the 12th &045; sooner than what most people think.

&uot;I just feel like the team that’s going to get him is Colorado. I know their scout likes him. He likes him enough to put him in there pretty good, but I think getting picked 10th or lower would be great.&uot;

The process has begun for the 5-8 Wimberly, who has since gone back to his home state of Florida following the end of the season and attended tryout camps for the Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.

He’ll attend a New York Yankees camp today. He had to turn down an offer from the Arizona Diamondbacks since he couldn’t arrange a flight out to the West Coast.

And they all want to know his asking price. They also want to keep tabs on him during the summer when he suits up for the Torrington Twisters of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

&uot;They really want me to throw a number out there &045; what round and what type of money I’m looking for before they draft me,&uot; Wimberly said. &uot;The main thing is to be playing summer ball and they can see me against different competition with wooden bats. That’s going to play a huge role.&uot;

Wimberly has made the most of his two seasons at Alcorn and has shown scouts the best assets he brings to the ball park &045; his ability to put the bat on the ball (only five strikeouts in 132 at-bats), his speed on the bases (42 steals out of 47 opportunities) and his ability to hit well from the left side as a switch hitter.

Wimberly’s .462 batting average still stands as the best in the nation.

&uot;He’s going to get drafted,&uot; Alcorn head coach Willie &uot;Rat&uot; McGowan said. &uot;A lot of scouts have been asking about him. They say he’s got one thing God doesn’t give many people &045; that quickness. He can run. They love that. I can’t predict what round he’ll go in, but I’m pretty sure he’ll get drafted.

&uot;You’ve got to realize &045; Corey has only played two years. He’s got two more years left. He’s only played two years and has those kinds of numbers.&uot;

That quickness is something that may have most everyone’s attention since the game at the big level has gotten away from that in recent years while trying to play for the three-run homer. Yet teams have come back to it with speed at the top of the lineup with power numbers on the decline.

Natchez native Nook Logan was recently named the fastest player in the majors in his first full season with the Detroit Tigers. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays recently sent down Joey Gathright, the Louisiana native who was tabbed fastest in all of baseball prior to his demotion.

Wimberly’s speed factor may help scouts overlook his small stature. Gathright is only 5-10, and Yankees speedster Tony Womack is a mere 5-9.

&uot;He is a true leadoff hitter, which is something they don’t make anymore,&uot; Shanks said. &uot;If he didn’t have the speed he has, he would probably have a tough time. He’s got outstanding speed. I don’t know what his speed was, but he was the fastest kid we saw this year. I wish I had him. He’s a very good competitor, and I think he’s going to get a chance to succeed.&uot;

Then there’s his ability to avoid striking out, something no one really talked about this spring until the end of the season. His numbers were impressive last spring in his first season with the Braves with 14 strikeouts in 150 at-bats, but this past spring he fanned only five times, an average of one every 26.4 at-bats that second in the nation.

His numbers were slowed a bit near the end of the season when he jammed a shoulder sliding into second base against Mississippi Valley.

&uot;His biggest improvement this year before he got hurt was we’ve been trying to get him to stay in there and hit that ball,&uot; McGowan said. &uot;He’s so strong, and he’s real strong for his size. Just stop being a slap hitter. He’s got the speed to hit the ball in the infield and still beat it out.&uot;

Wimberly’s least asset his defense, but scouts at the Marlins camp were the first to approach him with an idea &045; switching to the outfield. He had 12 errors this season at second base with a fielding percentage of .925 after he had 15 errors and a .926 percentage in 2004.

&uot;I’ll definitely cut down on my errors,&uot; Wimberly joked. &uot;The main thing they want me to do is they want to make me an outfielder because of my speed. I kind of expected that. I’ve never played it, but it doesn’t seem that hard.&uot;

That may cause him to fall some in the draft, but even Wimberly said he’s heard it all &045; some are saying fourth, sixth, eighth or 12th round. How it all shakes out is anyone’s guess, and the speedster told his coach he has yet to rule out coming back to Alcorn if everything doesn’t go according to plan.

&uot;Corey told me if he doesn’t get drafted where he thinks he’s going to go, he’ll come back and go to school,&uot; McGowan said. &uot;He’s not going to waste his education. He’s been sticking to his word, and I hope he sticks to his word. I don’t think he’ll give up his education if he gets drafted in the low rounds.&uot;