Hoes Can't Get Baseball and Draft Off His Mind

L.J. Hoes is waiting for the bell to ring. His final high school exam -- precalculus -- has passed, and a baseball career is beckoning. His mind can't help but wander lately as his days at St. John's wind down. The questions for Hoes, a four-year starter for the Cadets, will begin to be answered with the Major League Baseball first-year player draft set to start today.

Baseball has always come easy for him, from the time he picked up the sport at age 4 and soon began playing with the older kids. He went to St. John's and was named All-Met three of his four seasons. He never had to worry where his name would be in the lineup.

But today's draft brings uncertainty. He is talented enough to be taken anywhere in the first few rounds, but if he starts dropping there's no telling when his name might be called. Such is the nature of baseball's draft, which is more about questions than answers. Can he be signed? How does the 18-year-old's body project in three or four years? Does he intend to follow through on his scholarship to North Carolina?

"I've told the teams my dream is to play professional baseball and that's what I want to do," Hoes said, slumped on the floor outside the St. John's gymnasium one day last week. "I'm just anxious, really. It crosses my mind a lot. Yesterday, I was sitting at home daydreaming about it. [Soon] I could be a professional baseball player. In school, everybody asks me about it. It's always on my mind."

Friends and family are set to gather with Hoes at his family's Mitchellville home this afternoon to watch the draft unfold. It is a moment for which he has been preparing for quite some time, from working out, running and taking extra batting practice to making sure he takes care of his body. Hoes drinks protein shakes daily and has sworn off soda; once he puts some bulk on his lean 6-foot-1, 180-pound frame, fast food will be nixed from his diet. For the time being, though, he tries to eat every two hours and nothing is off limits.

It is hard to imagine there are questions about Hoes. As a senior this past spring, opposing teams rarely pitched to him. Still, the right-handed-hitting outfielder batted .524 with nine doubles and eight home runs. He stole 32 bases, scored 44 runs and drove in 29 more. He also shined as a pitcher, going 2-0 with three saves and a 1.35 ERA, holding opponents to a .111 batting average.

It was an impressive way to finish a high school career that has been played under a spotlight, as many who follow the sport wanted to see if Hoes could live up to lofty expectations.

"He had played for Riverdale [Baptist] as an eighth grader, so people knew who he was," St. John's Coach Mark Gibbs said. "We were excited to get him in here to see what he could do."

Despite the gaudy statistics, some scouts are unsure where Hoes fits on a major league team. They question whether he has the speed to play center field or if he has the power to be a corner outfielder. Hoes said he was timed at 6.6 seconds in the 60-yard dash during a recent workout in St. Louis for the Cardinals and believes that time will quell any doubts about his speed. Any team will want to be certain in its projection of Hoes if it plans to meet his demand for a signing bonus. He said he wants "first- to third-round money," which is upward of $650,000.

"He plays the game hard, he plays the game the way it's supposed to be played and he loves the game," said one scout, speaking on the condition of anonymity because teams generally prohibit their evaluators from speaking publicly about prospects. "He's a baseball player, and that counts for something. It sounds stupid, but we all know what it means. He knows the game. Those are intangibles that serve you well, but only to a certain degree."

While Washington area high schools annually produce some high draft picks, this year is a bit unsettled. All-Met Player of the Year Danny Hultzen of St. Albans, Scott Silverstein of St. John's and Gaithersburg's Kevin Brady all are highly regarded pitchers. However, Hultzen has insisted he plans to go to the University of Virginia instead of turning pro. Silverstein did not pitch this spring because of a shoulder injury. And many think Brady is better off taking his scholarship to Clemson. Another prospect, former All-Met Tyler Hibbs, did not play this season after being arrested on marijuana charges in late February; his trial is scheduled for next month.

"It's not your normal year here," said another pro scout, also speaking on the condition of anonymity. "You have to do some digging and think outside the box in the Washington area this year."