pic of the player selected

Thursday, June 4, 1998

Bruins earn places with Phillies, A’s during draft

BASEBALL: Valent chosen during supplemental first round, Byrnes
in eighth

By Kristina Wilcox

Daily Bruin Staff

Two Bruins are about to follow in a former teammate’s footsteps
by playing in the major leagues.

Senior Eric Byrnes and junior Eric Valent were drafted on the
first day of the June amateur baseball draft.

Valent, a power-hitting center fielder, was chosen in the
supplemental first round (which takes place between the first and
second rounds) by the Philadelphia Phillies as the 42nd pick
overall. That is four spots higher than Valent’s teammate for two
years, Jim Parque, who was picked in the 1997 draft.

Parque won his first major-league game on Sunday with the
Chicago White Sox.

Valent is the 13th Bruin to be chosen in the first round and is
also the third in two years. Parque and infielder Troy Glaus were
both first-round picks in 1997.

The Phillies received the 42nd pick to compensate for the loss
of their 1997 No. 1 pick, J.D. Drew. Drew was the fifth pick
overall in the 1998 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.

"It looks like a good organization for me," Valent said,
"because they don’t have many outfielders in the minors and because
they didn’t sign Drew last season.

"But personally, I didn’t think that I would slip that far down
into the sandwich round."

Nonetheless, Valent’s teammate and fellow draftee was happy for
him.

"I was surprised that Valent went where he did, but I’m excited
for him," Byrnes said. "I cannot believe that the Phillies managed
to steal (Pat) Burrell and Valent. For that I give them the best
draft of all the major-league teams."

Burrell was the first pick overall out of Miami. Valent’s
father, Tony, said that the his son won’t let the draft order
affect him.

"You’ve got to take it with a grain of salt," the elder Valent
said. "Eric is satisfied. Just look where Jimmy (Parque) was picked
last year, and he’s in the big leagues already. Eric has proven
them wrong all along, so I feel that he won’t be down in the minors
for very long.

"Eric feels that he has nothing else to prove."

Byrnes returned to the Bruins for his senior year to prove that
his junior year (.332 batting, 17 HR, 60 RBI) was no fluke. He was
drafted in the fourth round by the Houston Astros in 1997 but
dropped to the eighth round in the 1998 draft. The Oakland A’s
chose Byrnes this time around.

Nonetheless, Byrnes is still glad that he came back for a last
hurrah with UCLA.

"I’m just excited," Byrnes said. "I couldn’t be happier to be
drafted by a California team. You have to know that you’re going to
drop a little, numbers-wise, if you come back for another year, but
in my heart and in my mind, I know that I improved as a player this
season."

Byrnes is a Bay Area native, but he has a special place in his
heart for the Giants. So what did he think about the A’s choosing
him?

"I’ll always be a Giants fan at heart," Byrnes said, "but I’m
just looking for a good opportunity to prove that I should have
been a first-rounder.

"The A’s are getting a steal."

UCLA Sports Information

Bruin center fielder Eric Valent