DODGERS NOTEBOOK: TOP PICK REACHES AGREEMENT.Byline: Tony Jackson
Anthony (Antonio) Jackson, best known as Tony Jackson Staff Writer BOSTON - The Dodgers agreed to terms on Friday with left-hander Scott Elbert, their top selection in this week's draft, signing him to a reported $1.575 million bonus. The club also reached agreement with fifth- round pick John Raglani, an outfielder from George Washington University George Washington University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; chartered 1821 as Columbian College (one of the first nonsectarian colleges), opened 1822, became a university in 1873, renamed 1904. . Elbert, from Seneca (Mo.) High School, was taken by the Dodgers with the 17th overall pick. He will join fellow first rounder Blake DeWitt Blake R. DeWitt (born August 8, 1985 in Sikeston, Missouri) is an infielder in Minor League Baseball who plays for the Jacksonville Suns in the Double-A Southern League. As a senior short stop at Sikeston High School in Missouri he batted . , a third baseman third baseman n. Baseball The infielder stationed near third base. Noun 1. third baseman - (baseball) the person who plays third base third sacker from Sikeston (Mo.) High, with the Dodgers' short-season, Rookie-level Pioneer League affiliate in Ogden, Utah Ogden is the county seat of Weber County,GR6 Utah, United States. A 2006 estimate placed its population at 78,086. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a . That is a step higher than the short-season Gulf Coast League The Gulf Coast League is a minor league baseball league which operates in Florida. It is a Rookie League, with a season running from mid-June to late August. The season is 60 games long and teams in the league are divided into three divisions, East, North and , where the Dodgers usually assign their high school picks while sending their college selections to Ogden. ``That's really a pretty fast league for a high school kid,'' said Logan White, the Dodgers' director of amateur scouting. ``It's even moreso in recent years, when a lot of teams have gone the 'Moneyball' route. Now, you have a lot of 23- and 24-year-olds at that level.'' The Dodgers now have signed four of their top five picks and six of their top eight. The top player still unsigned is Justin Orenduff Justin A. Orenduff (born May 27, 1983 in Hagerstown, Maryland) is a right-handed pitcher in Minor League Baseball who pitches for the Jacksonville Suns in the Double-A Southern League. , a right-hander out of Virginia Commonwealth University Formed by a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968, VCU has a medical school that is home to the nation's oldest organ transplant program. whom the club selected with the first-round sandwich pick In baseball, a Sandwich Pick is when a first or second-round draft pick signs with a different team as a free agent, and the former team had offered the player arbitration, then the player's former team is entitled to a draft pick during the "sandwich round" of next year's draft. it was awarded as compensation for losing reliever Paul Quantrill to free agency. White said those negotiations are going well. Beginning today, all the Dodgers' signed draft picks will report to a minicamp at the team's spring training headquarters in Vero Beach, Fla. The camp runs through Wednesday, after which Elbert and DeWitt will be brought to Dodger Stadium, probably on Thursday, be introduced to several players and club officials and watch the game from general manager Paul DePodesta's box. --Heating up: Right fielder Juan Encarnacion took a nine-game hitting streak into Friday night's opener of a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox are a member and currently champions of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball’s American League. From to the present, the Red Sox have played in Fenway Park. . More importantly, the streak had raised his overall average from .217 to .252. Encarnacion went 2 for 5 with a double and a home run in Thursday night's win at Toronto. ``I'm feeling much better at the plate,'' Encarnacion said. ``But I'm not worried about extending the streak. I just want to get hits and take it day by day. Hopefully, I'll get one or two hits every night.'' Encarnacion, a key figure on last year's Florida Marlins world championship club before being traded to the Dodgers in December, is a quiet guy who often gets overlooked in a Dodgers lineup that is riddled with stars and established veterans. ``He is a very quiet guy, and that's not a bad thing,'' manager Jim Tracy said. ``His track record the last several seasons suggests that he is a very good offensive player. I think by the time we get to the latter part of September, he will have been that same guy for us.'' --Miscellany: Reliever Paul Shuey, who has been out all season with a ruptured tendon in his right thumb, is scheduled to throw live batting practice for the second time before Tuesday night's game with Baltimore. Shuey continues to improve but still doesn't appear close to starting his minor-league rehabilitation assignment. ... Hitting coach Tim Wallach and third-base coach Glenn Hoffman flew back to California because Wallach's son and Hoffman's daughter both are graduating from high school today. The two are expected to rejoin the club in time for Sunday night's series finale. CAPTION(S): box Box: DODGERS at BOSTON - Tony Jackson |
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