Hudson Catholic’s Lugo, St. Joseph’s Zayas anxiously approach possible draft dayIt’s the moment that every kid dreams of from the minute he is presented with his first glove and ball, with the smell of the brand new leather filling the air, much in the same fashion that the smell of roses are prominent on a beautiful spring day or the way that the scent of charcoal, hot dogs and hamburgers are recognized from an August summer barbecue.
When a child is fitted for his first baseball glove and he’s handed a new baseball for the first time, the dreams begin. He sees himself as the next Derek Jeter, the next Mike Piazza. He hears the roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat. He feels the excitement of the shiny white uniform and the softness of the green grass. In his mind, he is a Major Leaguer, even if he is merely a toddler.
Two local Hudson County products have been pursing that dream for most of their teenage lives. On Monday or Tuesday, depending on when their names will be called, they will see that elusive dream evolve one step closer to becoming reality.
The Major League Baseball free agent amateur draft takes place in New York on those two days, with thousands of young baseball prospects from all over the country – and for that matter, all over the world – tuned into the Internet to see if they have been selected in the draft.
Chris Lugo, a Hoboken native who played his high school baseball at Hudson Catholic, and Gil Zayas, who just recently completed a brilliant career at St. Joseph of the Palisades in his native West New York, have been watched and inspected closely by major league scouts all season long. They have a better than average chance of seeing their names flash across the Internet over the next two days, becoming a draft pick of some team wanting to make either player their very own.
Both Lugo and Zayas were informed by some baseball scouts that they are interested in securing the local players’ services in the draft.
Lugo, who batted .580 this season for the HCIAA Coviello champion Hawks of Hudson Catholic with five homers and 30 RBI, while also posting a 7-2 record on the mound with a 2.04 earned run average and 77 strikeouts in 55 innings, is considered by Baseball America to be a “mid-round” selection, meaning anywhere between the 15th and 25th rounds.
However, Lugo has been told by some scouts that he might be taken higher, considering that he has a 91 mile-per-hour fastball and one of the fiercest and sharpest curveballs ever thrown in Hudson County high school baseball.
“It’s looking good,” Lugo said. “I know that the Phillies are very interested. If I do well at their pre-draft tryout camp [this weekend], then I could go in the top 10 rounds. I don’t care. It’s keeping me on the edge a little bit.”
Lugo, who will attend Okaloosa-Walton College in Niceville, Fla., one of the best junior college baseball programs in the country if his draft selection isn’t acceptable, said that he will spend the time on Monday and/or Tuesday following the draft live on the Internet.
“I’m really pumped about that,” Lugo said. “I haven’t thought much about the round at all. I know that a couple of teams are looking at me as a possibility.”
Lugo has been scouted in recent weeks by the Yankees, Mets, the Cleveland Indians and the Phillies. He is excited about attending the workout in Philadelphia this weekend.
“I’ve been waiting 18 years for this moment,” Lugo said. “I think the best way to describe it is nervous excitement. If it happens, it would be the biggest accomplishment in my life.”
Lugo is also hoping to become the first Hudson Catholic product to get drafted out of high school. Former Hawks John Furch and Brian Ellerson were taken in previous drafts, but both were drafted out of college. Lugo would become the first Hudson Catholic product to be selected out of high school.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” Lugo said. “If it happens, it would be a dream come true.”
While Lugo said he grew up a Yankee fan, once the draft takes place, then all favoritism ceases.
“You can’t pick and choose at this point,” Lugo said. “It’s all about where I’m taken.”
While Lugo is anxiously awaiting the draft, Zayas is taking more of a low-keyed approach.
“I’m not even thinking about it right now,” said Zayas, who hopes to become the first-ever Blue Jay to be selected in the draft. “Nobody has contacted me in the last couple of weeks, so I’m not even focused on it. All my friends are excited, looking forward to seeing my name come up. But I’m really not worried about it.”
Earlier in the season, Zayas’ name was also listed as a possible “mid-round” selection, but the latest Baseball America rankings do not include the slugging third baseman, who hit .595 with nine homers and 39 RBI for the HCIAA Seglio Division finalists.
“I don’t know what happened,” Zayas said. “Some of them [the scouts] came up to be before the championship game against County Prep and wished me luck, but I haven’t heard anything since.”
Zayas did receive a call from the Mets, who asked Zayas to attend a pre-draft workout session last Sunday at Shea Stadium.
“I thought I did pretty well at the workout,” Zayas said. “There were a lot of guys there with college experience. I think I did pretty good and held my own.”
Other organizations to express interest in Zayas earlier in the year include the Colorado Rockies, the Atlanta Braves, the Phillies and the Mets.
While Zayas is outwardly taking a subtle approach, there’s a part of him that is excited about the opportunity.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited,” Zayas said. “Things like this don’t happen every day. But I don’t want to get my hopes up too high. If I don’t get drafted, I’ll just go to St. John’s (where he already has a scholarship). I’m excited that St. John’s is going to the (NCAA) Eastern Regional and I will follow them in the tournament.”
However, whatever happens Monday and Tuesday will be simply gravy for Zayas, knowing full well that he has a college career to fall back on.
“I don’t know much about history, but if I’m the first to get drafted from our school, it would be very astounding to me,” Zayas said. “Hopefully, I do get picked. I’ll follow it and wait it out and if it happens, I’ll be happy. But I’m not worried about it.”
Both Lugo and Zayas have been selected to represent the North Section 1 area in the New Jersey Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Games next weekend in Mercer County Park in West Windsor, joining local standouts like Adolfo Santos of Ferris, Danny Lopez of Weehawken, Scott Van Es of Secaucus and Chris Castlegrande of Bayonne. Hudson Catholic coach Derek England will serve as one of the coaches in the game. It remains to be seen whether his star Lugo and Zayas will be able to play. Major League Baseball may have a say in that.