July 29, 2007
POWER OF ‘ONE'
SCOUT HAD TO CONVINCE M’S TO TAKE A-ROD FIRST IN ’93
Kevin Kernan
THE longtime scout took one look at the swimming pool beyond the left-field fence at Westminster Christian High School in Miami and asked the coach if his young slugger had bashed many splashdown home runs.
“No, not one,” the coach answered.
“Really?” the scout said.
The coach then added with a smile, “He hits them over the pool.”
Now, there was no doubt Roger Jongewaard was going to make Alex Rodriguez the No. 1 pick of the 1993 draft. Drafting Rodriguez No. 1 was a “no brainer,” Jongewaard, 70, tells me 14 years after the draft. Rodriguez, who entered yesterday one homer away from 500, might be on his on his way to becoming baseball’s all-time home-run king.
Back in 1993, though, the Seattle Mariners scouting director had to fight to get A-Rod taken by his team. Ownership wanted immediate pitching help and Darren Dreifort was their choice.
Explains Jongewaard, “I remember them saying, ‘Dreifort is close [to being in the majors], right? He has a great arm. Right?’
“I said, ‘Yeah, yeah.’
“They said, ‘Then why are we even thinking about drafting this kid in Miami?’
“I said, ‘I just can’t give up a superstar. How often do you get the chance to get a superstar like this?’ I got a lot of support from our general manager Woody Woodward and in the end, the corporate guys let me do my job.’ ”
Dreifort wound up 48-60 over his nine-year career. A-Rod is having another career season.
Jongewaard owned a No. 1 track record, too. In 1987, a previous Seattle owner wanted to take Cal State-Fullerton right-hander Mike Harkey with the top overall selection. Jongewaard stuck to his guns and told George Argyros that a high school outfielder was the much better choice.
“OK, but you better be right,” Argyros said.
Jongewaard was right. Ken Griffey Jr. has had himself a much better career than Harkey, who won only 36 major league games. Jongewaard’s two Seattle No. 1 picks and future first-ballot Hall of Famers have combined for 1,087 home runs.
“It’s funny, when I drafted Griffey, I thought he would be the guy who would break the home-run records, but he got hurt,” Jongewaard says. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
Jongewaard also was involved in one other overall No. 1 selection, working as an area supervisor out of Southern California with the Mets in 1980 when they selected L.A.’s Darryl Strawberry.
“It’s tough to pick No. 1, but I think each time, we got the right guy,” Jongewaard says.
Does he have a favorite of the three? “I hate to even think about it, they are all like my kids,” says Jongewaard, who has five kids of his own and 12 grandchildren. “You get a special bond with these kids. You pull for them.”
In the Pursuit of Alex, there was one late curve thrown at Jongewaard. Just before the draft, he received a phone call from Rodriguez. The youngster was telling the scouting director not to take him.
Rodriguez said it would be better for him to be taken by the Dodgers with the second selection because then as a National Leaguer, he could get back to Miami and play some games “at home” against the Marlins.
Jongewaard could tell that Rodriguez was not sincere in this opt-out speech. He wasn’t buying any of this Hollywood Alex. “I think it was his agent wanting him to go to the Dodgers,” Jongewaard says.
That would be Scott Boras.
Jongewaard told Rodriguez it was too late. Seattle ownership had come up big, offering Rodriguez a million dollars and a big-league contract. “That had never been done before,” Jongewaard says.
To this day, Jongewaard thinks the world of Rodriguez. “He was truly the All-American boy. He was quarterback on the football team. His mom worked in the snack shop. His sister and brother were usually around. They were all good kids,” he says.
“Alex had size, speed and power and played a premium position, shortstop. He could do it all, a five-tool guy. It’s great to see all the success he’s had.”
It was not just about having out-of-this-world talent. Rodriguez had the work ethic of a coal miner. “He always respected the game,” Jongewaard says, “and he worked on his weaknesses.”
The first time they went out to eat together at a local Cuban restaurant in Miami, Jongewaard saw how serious Rodriguez was about becoming a great player.
“He ordered broiled chicken and vegetables,” Jongewaard explains. “The next time we went out to eat, he ordered the same thing. I said to him, ‘Do you ever order anything else?’ ”
Rodriguez was serious about eating the right foods. When Jongewaard hit him with the question he often asks young players, A-Rod’s answer was revealing.
“I ask players what they would be if they didn’t make it in baseball,” Jongewaard says.
When he asked that question of a young outfielder the Mets would draft, Billy Beane, the future GM told him he would like to be president of the United States.
When A-Rod was asked the question, he confidently said, “I expect to make it in baseball.”
A-Rod is living his dream. “He truly expected to do it all, he had a lot of inner confidence and should have, he was always very, very good at whatever he did,” Jongewaard says.
Jongewaard lived his dream, too. In a different way. He was a left-handed-hitting catcher in the Milwaukee Braves organization. “I was one level ahead of [Bob] Uecker,” he says. The first time he was invited to spring training with the club in 1954, he was given the locker next to Hank Aaron. He eventually ended up in the Pacific Coast League. He never made it to the majors. Another young Braves catcher named Joe Torre got the job. Jongewaard retired in 1959 and spent the next 10 years in private business.
“I wanted to be a dad,” he says. He eventually came back to the game he loved as a scout. He signed Lenny Dykstra in the 13th round. One of his best finds was not even drafted, Kevin Mitchell. In 1981, the Mets couldn’t sign a 12th-round pick Jongewaard desperately wanted - a pitcher named Roger Clemens.
Today, he continues to scout for the Marlins, always on the lookout for that next No. 1. The day I tracked him down, he was in North Carolina, beating the bushes.
For those old enough to remember the TV show “Home Run Derby,” Jongewaard was the catcher for many episodes.
“It was a lot of fun, but I don’t remember ever getting paid,” Jongewaard says with a laugh. “But I did get to see a lot of future Hall of Famers.”
Now it’s Rodriguez who stars in his own version of Home Run Derby.
Still hitting them over the pool.