Zach Buchanan

zbuchanan@enquirer.com

It was late summer 2008, and Reds right-hander Anthony DeSclafani was 18. He and his parents were barreling down the highway from his hometown of Colts Neck, N.J., toward LaGuardia Airport in New York. They were racing the clock.

He was flying to Boston just in case. The next day was the deadline for him to sign with the Red Sox, who’d taken him out of high school in the 22nd round of the draft. It was also the day he was supposed to show up at the University of Florida, where he’d committed to pitch. He had no idea which he should do.

The car was silent. A back-and-forth discussion had dominated the early portion of the ride, but everyone was talked out. About 45 minutes from the airport, DeSclafani’s mother spoke up.

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“If you’re not dead-set on playing professional baseball and college is still on your mind,” she said, “I think the safest bet and the right route would be to go to school and get that college experience.”

That hit DeSclafani in the right place, and the car pulled off the highway. The entire family got something to eat instead.

He’d go to Florida, turning down a bonus from the Red Sox that was worth around $600,000. (Rules on draft spending have been tightened since 2012, and offering that much money for such a late-round pick is unlikely these days.)

Three years later, DeSclafani was taken in the sixth round by the Toronto Blue Jays. He signed for $250,000. He didn’t know if going to college was worth it until he made his big-league debut three years after that.

“You go from not making decisions that matter through high school – you decide to do your homework or something, or what you’re going to eat – and then you decide whether to go play professional baseball or go to college,” DeSclafani said. “That can be a life-changing thing.”

A big decision

For some high school players in the draft, deciding on a baseball future is easy.

Catcher Tucker Barnhart was taken in the 10th round by the Reds in 2009 and signed immediately, knowing his eagerness to go pro would only get in the way of giving college the full attention it required. Left-hander Brandon Finnegan was taken so late out of high school – the Texas Rangers tabbed him in the 45th round in 2011 – that attending Texas Christian University instead was a no-brainer.

Players taken the first round often are offered life-changing millions of dollars. But then there are the guys on the bubble, offered a hundreds of thousands instead of millions. It looks like all the cash in the world as a teenager.

“That’s some big money when you’re 18,” DeSclafani said. “Even for adults, the money you get offered is a pretty big number. It’s enticing.”

Reds shortstop Zack Cozart didn’t get to stare down such an offer. He’s not exactly sure what would have happened if he did.

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Cozart drew some interest as a high school player in Tennessee, but he and his father set clear parameters for teams looking to draft him. If taken in the first five rounds, they’d think about it. Otherwise, Cozart would attend Ole Miss.

The fifth round passed without a phone call, so Ole Miss it was. Cozart took a nap. But while he slept, the New York Mets called. They’d been on him more than anyone, and were preparing to take him with the third pick of the sixth round.

Sorry, Cozart’s father informed them. His son would play college ball. The Mets took a college shortstop instead, signing him for $135,000.

When Cozart awoke, he was furious that he wasn’t the one to answer the phone. He’s mellowed since, and went on to be taken by Cincinnati in the second round of the 2007 draft for a bonus north of $400,000.

“I probably would have been stupid and said, ‘I’ll sign right now,’” Cozart said. “I’m glad I was asleep.”

Are you serious?

In hindsight, Cozart doesn’t think he would have signed even if he’d received that call instead. But he does think he would have misled the Mets' scout who recommended the team draft him.

“’Then they would have been really mad because my dad would have been like, ‘You’re not going,’” Cozart said. “Then we would have had an issue.”

Weighing the whims of teenagers is just part of the job description for an amateur scout. It’s bad for job security to draft too many prep players who end up in college instead of the minors.

It doesn’t help that most high schoolers have no idea what’s best for them.

“You have blinders on,” Cozart said. “You’re thinking big leagues, pro ball, whatever it is. I’ve known kids who since then have asked me my opinion. I know teams aren’t going to like what I say, but I’d go to college 100 percent of the time.”

Lee Seras is the Reds’ area scout for the northeast part of the country, and has learned to navigate that terrain. Drawing on his previous experience as a high school teacher and coach, he tries his best to consider what’s best for the kid as well for his employer.

He’s recently emailed with one player from New York who is dead-set on going pro, but has marginal talent and very low signing demands. He also has a nice college offer.

“I think he’s listening to a few scouts up by him who are those kind of scouts that say, ‘Let’s just sign the kid, put him out there and see what he can do. If he doesn’t make it, so what? He’s just another number,’” Seras said. “I have a genuine interest in the kid and said, ‘Don’t be too interested here.’”

But Seras also has to protect himself. If a kid isn’t a lock to sign, Seras won’t recommend taking him high. He’s seen plenty of players from affluent families who use the draft as a resume-padder before ultimately heading off to play at an expensive private university. In 2008, he and the Reds took a sixth-round talent in the 15th, but offered seventh-round money. Despite steadfastly maintaining his desire to sign, the player attended Duke University instead.

But then there are the ones who really know what they want. Reds starting pitcher prospect Sal Romano was one of those. Cincinnati selected him in the 23rd round in 2011 and offered $450,000, despite Romano’s commitment to play for the University of Tennessee.

“He looked me square in the eye and said, ‘I want to play professional baseball right now. If I get a decent amount of money, I am gone,’” Seras said. “That’s what he did.”

Looking back

Cozart knew two weeks into his time at Ole Miss that his father forced him into the right decision. He was a measly 165 pounds at the time, and added 30 pounds of muscle in his first two years in college.

“I had never lifted,” he said. “I would have been out of the game real quick if I would have been drafted (out of high school), I think.”

Barnhart is similarly at peace with his decision to sign as a prep player. Even if he wasn’t in the major leagues right now, he thinks it would have been the right call.

(All high school players get money included for college tuition, although that comes with certain limitations. “Not a Duke education,” Seras said, “but like a Rutgers education.”)

It took DeSclafani longer. The 4.33 ERA his third and final year with the Gators was his best, and though he went higher in the draft out of college, he also signed for a lower bonus.

He thinks he was more prepared to attack pro ball after going to Florida, but still played the what-if game until he began moving quickly through the minors after being traded to the Miami Marlins. College was worth it, he guessed.

He’d made the right decision. Looking back, he lucked into it.

“I was pretty green,” DeSclafani said of his high school self. “I didn’t know s--t.”