|
Publication Date: Friday, June 24, 2005 The A's land Lansford
The A's land Lansford
(June 24, 2005) St. Francis grad passes up Santa Clara -- and takes his heat with him
By Scott Campbell
This was beyond Jared Lansford's wildest dreams. The second round!
He looked down at the computer in the lobby of the Aston Waikiki just to make sure his name was still there. It was. Jared Lansford. The 69th pick in the 2005 Major League Amateur Draft.
And by the Oakland A's, of all teams! But the second round? His head was swimming as he fought to control his emotions.
A baseball pedigree
Jared Lansford was born to be a baseball player. And he has always been an Athletic at heart.
Because his dad, Carney Lansford, played 10 of his 15 years in the big leagues for Oakland, Lansford practically grew up in the A's clubhouse.
Lansford, who lived in San Ramon at the time, has fond memories of shagging fly balls in the outfield with the other players' kids before the games. It was what he would do nearly every summer day during his childhood.
He counts Mark McGwire, Terry Steinbach and Dave Henderson as father figures, not larger-than-life sports figures.
"When they had the Bash Brothers, I'd come up to McGwire and he'd give me a bash or Steinbach would give me a bash," remembered Lansford.
Jared's uncles, Phil and Joe Lansford, played in the big leagues, too, for the Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres, respectively.
But most of all, Jared wanted to be like his brother, Josh.
@ smallhead:The Lansford Lancers
Josh Lansford, nearly three years older than Jared, was a natural.
A three-sport athlete at St. Francis, Josh was a four-time letter winner in baseball. A third baseman like his dad, he set school records for hits, walks and home runs, and helped the Lancers win a Central Coast Section title in 2001.
"I remember I was always trying to be like my brother," said Jared. "When he hit a home run, I'd try to hit a home run. He taught me so much through the years."
Josh, 20, now plays at Cal Poly, where he will be a junior this fall.
Jared counts his favorite moment on the diamond as the day he first got to play with his brother. After receiving a note from former St. Francis head coach Chris Bradford to meet him in his office after school, Jared, then a sophomore, got the word that he would be called up to the varsity team to play second base the following day.
Since the regular second baseman, out with an injury, was the team's No. 2 hitter, Jared would take his spot in the lineup as well. And because Josh, the team's star as a senior, was entrenched in the third spot in the lineup ... well, the two Lansfords would get to hit back-to-back.
Jared took a big step toward carving his own path as a baseball player that day, recording two hits as the Lancers defeated St. Ignatius.
Picking Santa Clara
Even though it has been his lifelong dream to play professional baseball, Jared never imagined that it would be as a pitcher. He always envisioned himself stepping to the plate at a key moment in the game.
The summer before his junior year, Lansford started to blossom into the star befitting his family's name. At a showcase for high-school players in Florida, in full view of scads of college coaches, he hit the tar out of the ball.
All of a sudden, his mailbox began filling up with letters from some of the top programs in the country. Cal State Fullerton. Arizona. Long Beach State. Arizona State.
But the school that seemed to be the best fit from the beginning was the one right down the street from his family's home. Santa Clara University. It didn't hurt that the Broncos coaches made it a priority to see Lansford in person.
"That they actually made it out to the games and watched me play was what made me decide to go to Santa Clara," recalled Lansford.
Broncos head coach Mark O'Brien spoke of what made Lansford stand out from other recruits.
"He knows how to play the game. ... He's an intelligent player," said O'Brien, who also signed two of Lansford's teammates, Brady Fuerst and Matt Long, to enter Santa Clara's program next fall. "He's very competitive and he doesn't like to lose, and that's going to carry him a long way in his career."
Meanwhile, with St. Francis earning Baseball America's nod as the No. 1 team in the country after beginning the 2004 season with 26 consecutive wins, Lansford was having the time of his life. He batted .368 as a junior and ranked second on the Lancers with 6 home runs and 35 RBIs.
But a loss to hated Bellarmine in the 27th game and a shocking defeat to Palo Alto in the CCS quarterfinals left the Lancers at 29-3 and put a damper on what had seemed like a miracle season.
Nonetheless, Lansford verbally committed to Santa Clara that May, certain that he would follow in his father and brother's footsteps as a hitter and an infielder.
"I thought going into [senior] year that I was going to get drafted this year as a hitter and as a second baseman, third baseman or shortstop," said Lansford.
Scouts and radar guns
Jared, the pitcher, was an idea born in Cuba, of all places.
The summer following Lansford's sophomore season, St. Francis found itself short on pitchers in a game against the Cuban Junior National team, so Lansford volunteered to take the hill.
"After a couple of innings ... I was very impressed, despite his wildness," recalled Bradford, the former Lancers coach. "He could flat-out throw that thing!"
When the 2004 season began back home, Bradford installed the junior as his closer on the star-studded team. Lansford (3-1) pitched in 13 games and recorded eight saves.
But even then, it was play infield for six innings, swing the bat, and then trot out to the mound to finish the game.
Everything changed once first-year head coach Chris Volta moved his co-captain to the front of the team's starting rotation in 2005. While developing a two-seam and a four-seam fastball, in addition to a change-up and a curveball, Lansford, now 6'2" and 185 lbs., said he "learned how to pitch instead of just throw. There's more to pitching than just striking guys out."
Word traveled fast, and St. Francis games began to attract a legion of major-league scouts.
"When I started throwing with the velocity that I had, around 94, 95 (mph), that's when all the scouts started showing up and I started thinking, 'Well maybe they like my arm better than they like my bat,'" related Lansford.
The scouts were everywhere. Twenty minutes before each game, Lansford and his teammates would watch 30 men toting radar guns enter the park. When Lansford would jog down to the bullpen to warm up before the game, five of them would be waiting for him, eager to dissect his mechanics. And, of course, once the game started, they filled the stands directly in his line of sight, right behind home plate.
The scrutiny was unbearable at times, but Lansford did his best to block it all out. His signature look on the mound, hat pulled down low, eyes barely visible, came out of necessity.
"I've had scouts say, 'I love how you pull your hat down and how you compete so much when you're on the mound. That's what we like most about you.' When they say that, I'm like, 'Well, thanks to you guys, that's why I'm doing it, trying to get you guys out of my view,'" recounted Lansford.
Lansford quickly learned he possessed the ability to make the scouts snap to attention. With a knowing smile, he described how he would save a little something extra, never throwing as hard as he could in his warm-ups.
"But right when the game started, my first pitch of the game was probably always my hardest," said Lansford. "Right when I'd throw my pitch, it was, 'Boom,' all the way around, radar guns everywhere.
"Every single one of them would write down something on their piece of paper. Then I'd just go back to work. My dad always told me, 'You've got to light up that gun a couple of times, let 'em see what you've got, and then you've got to go pitch.'"
And pitch he did. Lansford finished his first season as a starter with a record of 8-4 and a 1.59 ERA, notching 96 strikeouts against just 19 walks.
Led by Lansford's arm and bat (.379, 4 HRs and 28 RBIs), St. Francis advanced to the CCS semifinals before again seeing its season end in an upset, a 4-1 decision to No. 15 seed Santa Clara.
"We wanted CCS more than anything," said Lansford, who had watched from the stands as his brother's team let loose after winning the 2001 title and desperately wanted to be a part of his own celebratory dogpile. "Losing when that was your only goal the entire season, that was probably the toughest thing."
Nevertheless, his dramatic improvement on the mound left no doubt that the pros were first and foremost interested in his golden arm.
"His advancement in one year of pitching was quite noteworthy," related Bryn Alderson, baseball operations coordinator for the A's. "His control in addition to his velocity had really improved. Eric [Kubota, Oakland's director of scouting] was thoroughly impressed."
Degree vs. dollars
Jared knew better than to get his hopes too high leading up to selection day. His brother learned the hard way.
After expecting to be selected within the first three rounds, Josh was heartbroken to wait until the Texas Rangers selected him in the 39th round. That began what he called "the most difficult year of my life," a time in which he dejectedly turned to playing collegiate baseball, first at San Jose State.
Jared, despite hearing scouts project him to be picked in the first five rounds, avoided putting too much stock into the hype that surrounded him.
"I was hoping to get drafted high, but if I didn't, it wasn't going to break my heart," said Lansford. "My dad always told me, 'Don't have any expectations going into this draft. I don't want to see the same thing happen to you that happened to your brother.'"
The Lansfords put the word out that if Jared were picked in the top three rounds, he would sign. He would consider turning pro with a fourth- or fifth-round selection, but anything after that wouldn't outweigh a full scholarship at Santa Clara.
O'Brien is still holding out hope that Lansford will choose Santa Clara, even against the temptation of second-round dollars.
"I tell him, 'If I had a son that was drafted, I don't know if there would be any amount of money I would tell [him] to pass up college for, because I think that's one of the best experiences of your life,'" said O'Brien. "But if he [chooses to sign with the A's], it better be life-changing money. ... Which means that if you don't make it to the major leagues, that you're going to be pretty safe."
"It's a tough decision, a tough call," explained Jared's dad, Carney, who signed straight out of high school after the then-California Angels made him a third-round selection in 1975. "But if you're drafted in the first three rounds, especially if it's been your dream your whole life ... financially it makes sense to do it."
Jared's agent, Dave Stewart, the former Oakland ace and teammate of Carney's, has been in negotiations with Oakland's front office to secure the younger Lansford's first contract. With that deal expected to include a signing bonus in the ballpark of $500,000, Santa Clara quickly became an afterthought.
"It's no secret -- I wanted him to go to college," said Debbie Lansford, Jared's mother. "[But] this is an opportunity that not many people get to have. He has to take advantage of this."
"I'm one of those lucky people who gets to do what I love most in this world, which is to play baseball, as my job," said Jared. "An 18-year old having that kind of money ... that's like a dream.
"I don't need that kind of money right now. I don't need to touch it. I'm just going to invest it all and hopefully it turns into a little more money."
Next step: rookie ball
Sitting in his family's living room, with his father's 1989 World Series Championship trophy in full view, Jared is ready to start his dream.
Set to report to Phoenix, site of the A's rookie league, where most high-school draftees begin the long trek toward the glamour of the major leagues, Lansford is biding his time until the contractual details are ironed out.
While running, lifting and throwing in the meantime, he's anxious to begin his formal pitching education. With the aid of professional coaches to hone his craft, Lansford knows he has only scratched the surface of his potential.
"I've never even dreamed of throwing 98 mph, but that's what I've been told, that I could potentially throw that hard, if I get someone to work with me, if I start working out my arm properly," said Lansford.
Lansford also has an invaluable resource in his dad, who turned his hard work into a career in the major leagues.
Asked what words of wisdom he has offered his son, Carney said, "To be all eyes and ears when he's there. Pay attention and pick [the pitching coaches'] brains as much as possible."
This is the life that he and Josh have wanted their entire lives.
"Now it's settling in," related Jared. "This is what I want to do. This is why I play baseball. It's to have this chance to make it to the pros."
Too good to be true
On the morning of June 7 in Waikiki, where a large group of recent St. Francis graduates was enjoying its senior trip, Jared sat in the Aston lobby in shock.
Speaking of the moment he saw his name pop up on the screen, he remembered, "Right when that happened, I realized that, 'Oh man. I actually have to stop hitting now. I actually have to just pitch and I'm going to play with these guys.'"
"These guys" were his dad's team, the team that he has followed for as long as he can remember, and that was the icing on the cake.
"Second round by anyone would've been unbelievable, but the fact that it was the A's ... if I could've picked one team, it would have definitely been the A's," said Lansford.
His crowning moment leaving him in a daze, Jared set off to wake up his teammates and friends. His ship had just come in.
E-mail Scott Campbell at sports@mv-voice.com
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
