Finger sends slugger’s stock sliding

Thursday, June 6, 1996

Despite his stellar stats, Ammirato’s injury still has the
scouts worriedBy Yoni Tamler

Daily Bruin Staff

There wasn’t much more that Zak Ammirato could have done.

The senior infielder opened his final collegiate season batting
.345 with 31 RBIs in as many games for the UCLA baseball team. Then
a pernicious blood clot in his left index finger knocked him out of
the UCLA lineup for the next 22 games.

His return was no less brilliant. After homering in his first
at-bat in five weeks, Ammirato hit safely in each of his 11 games
to conclude the season, finishing his senior year with a 12-game
hitting streak.

Then again, this was nothing out of the ordinary for the UCLA
captain. In 1995, Ammirato finished the season with at least one
hit in his last 19 games. The second coming of Joe DiMaggio? Pro
scouts weren’t so sure.

Which was why on Tuesday, when the Major League draft went
through its first 27 rounds, the phone in Ammirato’s Westwood
apartment remained silent.

"I’ve never really thought that anything was going to happen,"
Ammirato said Tuesday night, with a week of selections left to be
announced. "I’m not too worried or panicky, I just don’t expect
anything. It’ll be a surprise if I get drafted, but I’ll have an
opportunity to play regardless because I can sign as a free
agent."

If Ammirato does get overlooked, it will be because of a couple
of factors. Little, if any, publicity trailed him out of high
school and after his junior season, when he hit .322 and earned a
Six-Pac honorable mention. Then there is his finger.

"It’s kind of unfortunate that my injury happened in my senior
season," Ammirato said. "I’m not using my finger as an excuse, but
I’ve been told by coaches that a lot of teams got scared away
because of it."

In this year’s NCAA Regionals, Ammirato twice lifted his Bruin
team to victories with a home run. Those homers were his fourth and
fifth in his 11-game return after hitting just one before the
injury. He ended the year winning the club batting title with a
.354 clip.

And yet his future still hangs in doubt: the Cincinnati Reds
recently took a look at Ammirato during a workout with teammate
Kevin Sheredy at Jackie Robinson Stadium. But even then Sheredy was
the one the scouts initially came out to see.

"When the draft is over, hopefully I will sign with someone as a
free agent," Ammirato said. "You just can’t be bothered by
wondering."

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Ammirato led with a .354 batting average.