Cole Brand suffered through a dose of reality on Tuesday but his disappointment from the day before was blunted when he finally heard his name called on Wednesday, the final day of Major League Baseball’s player draft.
Pegged by some as a likely candidate for the first 10 rounds, the Bradley Central pitcher was selected in the 42nd round by the St. Louis Cardinals.
“Something went seriously wrong. It may have been questions about signability,” the right-hander with the hopping fastball said Wednesday night. “It does look like we’re going to be able to figure it out. Right now we’re not that far from a good deal.”
Brand, who made the necessary grades and test score for a Division I scholarship, accepted and signed a scholarship with Clemson last fall. He still has that option as well as the possibility of going to the junior college route and going through the draft again next June.
“I still think there’s a good chance I’ll be going to play pro ball,” he said. “I called the Cardinals to thank them for selecting me and also to try to find out what went wrong.”
He will, however, leave actual negotiations in the hands of Darren Heitner, his advisor from Dynasty Reps.
Brand, a 6-foot-2, 225-pounder, didn’t eat Tuesday night, instead opting to go to bed.
“I slept like a baby and then I get up today and good things happened,” he said. “I hadn’t slept in two days so maybe I was just worn out. I had my hopes up all day on Tuesday but those hopes got dismantled so I went to hoping I’d hear my name today.”
Brand seemed delighted with the opportunity to go to the Cardinals organization. He worked out for area scout Jay Catalano and the Cardinals brass a couple of weeks ago in Charlotte, N.C.
“This is one of the teams that brings its players up through their system rather than trading them,” he said. “My advisor told me about one guy they signed three years ago as a free agent after the draft and he is now the closer in Triple-A. I like the fact, too, that their scouting director is also their player development guy. A lot of the clubs have two different guys. With St. Louis, there’s no questioning the guy that drafts the player because it’s the same guy.”
Scouts clocked Brand at times this spring at 94 and 95 mph.
Also selected on Wednesday was Tennessee Wesleyan’s Frederick Lewis. The fifth-year senior, a left-handed pitcher, was taken in the 47th round by the New York Yankees.