BY JIM BAUMBACH
June 6, 2008
An hour after the Twins drafted pitcher Bobby Lanigan in the
third round, he proudly said he still remembers the prediction
Adelphi coach Dom Scala made to him and his parents on a recruiting
visit three years ago.
"I'm not going to have you for your fourth year," Scala said then.
Which meant that Lanigan was going to be drafted, a pretty bold
statement considering the last time a player was drafted from the
Division II school in Garden City was 1993. And that was in the
38th round.
Yesterday, however, Scala's words rang true in impressive
fashion.
The Twins made Lanigan the 92nd overall pick, the highest any
Adelphi player has ever been selected.
"It's a school from a Division II conference out of the Northeast,
with all the biases you can think of from a major-league scout's
perspective," Lanigan said. "But the school fit perfect for
me."
Thanks to a fastball that registers in the 90s, an above-average
slider and a breakout performance in a competitive summer league
last year, Lanigan attracted scouts to Adelphi this year and it
paid off for him.
Lanigan, who turned 21 last month, watched the draft yesterday from
his Staten Island living room flanked by dozens of family and
friends, including his college coaches. But when the Twins were on
the board with the 15th pick in the third round, Lanigan had a
pretty good idea it was going to be him. A cousin watching in
Chicago was apparently a minute or two ahead of him, and he sent
Lanigan a text message that said, "Congrats."
Lanigan would have been happy regardless of who picked him, but he
said he liked the Twins because of their reputation for developing
their youth. Within an hour of being drafted, he already was
wearing a new Twins hat.
Lanigan also already has picked an agent, and perhaps it should
come as no surprise it's Joe Sambito, the only player from Adelphi
to play in the majors.
