Judgement Day

  NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Senior infielder Josh
Canales‘ improved bat can get him drafted on Tuesday.

By Jeff Agase and Scott
Bair
Daily Bruin Reporters

On Tuesday afternoon, after three or four years of bus rides,
hotel food and a whole lot of baseball games, a Bruin family will
be separated.

This group is not being scattered all over the country by a
messy divorce though, but by 30 major-league teams drafting their
pick of the Bruin litter, taking them from their UCLA home and
spreading them out to minor-league teams across the country.

The draft-eligible Bruins are excited for the possibilities the
future holds. Most of their lives have been spent working up to
this moment and Tuesday’s draft is the landmark that
separates baseball dreams from reality.

The years of hard work and tireless effort finally paid off for
Josh Canales in 2001. Not getting drafted after his junior year
largely because of his lack of production at the plate, Canales
found a way to make his bat his best asset.

UCLA Coach Gary Adams put his faith in Canales by moving him to
the leadoff spot in the batting order. Canales responded with an
eruption at the plate, hitting safely in 39 of his last 40 games
and turning in a .421 mark against Pac-10 teams.

“Coach Adams gave me the opportunity to shine and string
some at-bats together. I just had to keep faith in my abilities. I
wanted to approach every plate appearance with a fighter’s
mentality, to scrap claw and fight on every pitch,” Canales
said.

Another Bruin who took advantage of the 2001 season to improve
his draft status was senior Matt Pearl. Like Canales, Pearl went
undrafted in 2000 and impressed scouts this year with his
consistent offense and stellar defense. After most games, Pearl
would spend many a late night in the batting cages of Jackie
Robinson stadium trying to improve his chances of extending his
baseball career past his senior season.

“The whole process is really exciting. I just hope that I
get the opportunity to prove myself at the next level and continue
playing the game that I love,” Pearl said.

Of all the Bruins waiting for his name to be selected on draft
day, Josh Karp will know his professional fate before anyone else.
Predicted as a top-10 pick, Karp could be on the fast track to the
major leagues. Karp was kept on a tight pitch count through most of
his college career. He often sacrificed velocity to improve the
location and movement on his pitches. After three years at UCLA,
Karp is poised and ready for the major leagues and a chance to live
out his dream.

Then there is Jon Brandt.

Four years ago, Stanford essentially told Jon Brandt he
wasn’t good enough when they refused to recruit the Palo Alto
native. Three years later, major-league baseball did the same,
choosing not to draft the right-hander.

Brandt enjoys catching his skeptics off guard, much like his
lethal breaking ball does to bewildered batters. But after a
sub-par 4-4 year that was marred by a back injury midway through
the season, he still feels as though he must sell himself to
potential buyers.

“In the fall, I was as high as 93 miles per hour,”
he said. “So obviously the arm is there and the breaking ball
is there. I do the same intangible things that don’t always
get noticed, in terms of field positioning and in terms of
instinctual baseball.”

His 4.93 ERA placed him fourth among regular Bruin pitchers, but
many times pitching the day after first-round prospect Karp meant
Brandt faced teams eager to tee off in frustration. The pitching
staff’s often sacrificial lamb slumped after a strong
start.

Brandt is generously listed at 6 foot, 2 inches in the UCLA
media guide, but his lack of height is deceiving. He became both a
power and finesse pitcher this season, but his consistency came and
went along with his aggressiveness.

“It’s not that I can’t throw strikes,”
he said. “It’s that I choose not to because I’m
not aggressive. If I get into a wood-bat situation and someone can
teach me a good changeup and little missing pieces that are pretty
easy to adjust, I think I could surprise a lot of
people.”

All Brandt wants is another chance to quiet the doubters. With a
likely selection in the middle rounds Tuesday, the feisty underdog
will get just that.

Other Bruins that could get selected:

“¢bull; Josh Arhart ““ The junior catcher from Tustin
started 35 games this season. Arhart provided the Bruins with solid
offense and a .292 batting average, but he caught a very average
34.6 percent of runners attempting to steal bases. His speed should
get him glances from professional scouts, since it is a quality
held at such a premium at his position. Expect him to go deep in
the later rounds but to get a legitimate chance to prove his
worth.

“¢bull; Adam Berry ““ The redshirt junior left fielder has
solid power to all fields and has the size that scouts are looking
for. He has shown interest in turning pro, and his clutch hitting
early this season brought up his stock. His long swing can be
corrected in the minors, and a club may pick this work-in-progress
in the later rounds.

“¢bull; John Campenella ““ The junior transfer from
Glendale College made his mark in the Bruin outfield after a
nagging hamstring injury healed and allowed him to play to his full
potential. Campenella batted .317 and hit six home runs in only 82
at bats. He could use another year of college experience, but
professional baseball may not want to wait that long.

“¢bull; Randall Shelley ““ After a breakout sophomore
season a year ago, Shelley was a mainstay at third base, starting
49 of the team’s 57 games. He went in the 22nd round of the
1998 draft to the Texas Rangers and should go somewhere close to
that again, if not to the same team that drafted him three years
ago. Whatever team he ends up with will have the added bonus of a
musician with a particular interest in the accordion,

“¢bull; Bruins on the bubble: Bobby Roe, Wade Clark.

2001 First Round Draft (*=compensation picks)
SOURCE: Major Leage Baseball Original graphic by VICTOR CHEN/Daily
Bruin Web adaptation by MIKE OUYANG/Daily Bruin Bruins at a
Glance Original graphic by VICTOR CHEN/Daily Bruin Web
adaptation by MIKE OUYANG/Daily Bruin