Enter Mark Pawelek's name into any Web search engine and you'll get several links to message boards where baseball fans from across America are discussing his prospects as a major league baseball player.
People who have never seen the recently graduated Springville Red Devils southpaw pitch are giving their two cents worth on whether he should or should not be the top draft selection of their favorite team. Pawelek finds the online comments flattering and entertaining.
"It's really weird to see what all of these people are saying about me," Pawelek said. "There's some interesting stuff on there. But most of these people don't have any real idea on what will happen. They're just guessing."
But the speculation will end today when Major League Baseball holds its annual first-year player draft. Probably around noon, Pawelek and the rest of the baseball world will know what the professional scouts and player development directors really think of Utah's all-time strikeout king.
"It's the day when my life changes. I'll find out whether I'm going to go to college or going into the minor leagues," said Pawelek, who signed long ago with Arizona State.
According to Baseball America, Pawelek is the No. 16 prospect in the country, the second-best left-handed pitcher in the draft, and has the fourth-best fastball for a high school prospect. In assessing which prospects are closest to the big leagues, Pawelek is ranked third among high school players. In a recent mock draft, the publication had him going to the Chicago Cubs with the 20th pick in the first round. Seldom are mock drafts accurate, but it is a good indication of what the pro scouts think of his talent.
Pawelek has several big-league attributes. The tall lefty's biggest asset is his fastball, timed consistently between 93 and 95 mph and touching 97 at times. The pitch also has movement and reportedly never dipped below 90 in any game this season, which shows he maintains velocity in the late innings. He also has three other pitches — a curveball, slider and change-up — that he throws for strikes on any count.
In Pawelek's senior year, he fanned more than two batters per inning and gave up only 16 hits the entire year. Most impressively, he did not allow an earned run in 63 innings pitched. He has a good pitcher's build, is athletic, follows a stringent workout routine, was injury-free his entire high school career and is somewhat already accustomed to the lifestyle of a traveling baseball player.
"Last summer I spent more time on the road than I did at home," he said.
Scouts say Pawelek is top-half-of-the-first-round talent. However, he might slide in the draft because of the Boras factor — a negative label placed on Pawelek's tough-to-negotiate-with adviser/agent Scott Boras. He represents the biggest names in baseball — Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Adrian Beltre and many others — but has also been the agent of many holdout draft picks. He's the agent of Stephen Drew and Jered Weaver, two top picks of 2004 who held out for almost a year.
Some call Boras the most hated man in baseball. Others call him the most powerful man in baseball. He's credited with changing the draft more than a decade ago when he began encouraging clients to refuse the slot money offered by team owners to certain draft picks. Many teams shy away from Boras' clients, and several have already backed away from Pawelek. The Boras factor could be the most interesting saga of today's draft.
So why did Pawelek select Boras as his adviser? Basically, Pawelek feels Boras has a history of being a good mentor for his clients and getting them the best professional contracts.
"Boras gets his players paid," Pawelek said. "He's the best in the business. But he is an adviser. He can recommend what I should do, but ultimately it is my decision."
The Boras factor might send Pawelek on a long detour to the major leagues. On the other hand, if a team selects him in an early round, it probably indicates that a pre-draft agreement was reached and that a lucrative deal is on the horizon. Both Weaver and Drew eventually signed for around $5 million.
Pawelek says watching the draft experience two years ago of close friend and former Springville teammate Aaron Jensen has been helpful. When word leaked that Jensen was leaning toward college, he dropped in the draft from a second- to fourth-round pick to a 19th-round pick. If Pawelek has a similar experience today, he says he won't be disappointed. Major league teams still know his value and talent as a hard-throwing lefty, and eventually he'll get the chance to prove himself and be compensated accordingly.
"I hope I get drafted, and it would be nice too, but I have other options if things don't go that way," he said.
Mark Pawelek file Draft day
Mark Pawelek and other Utah high school and college players will be watching today's baseball draft with interest.
School: Springville High
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 180 pounds
Throws: Left
Pitches: Fastball (93-95 mph), curveball, slider, change-up
Senior year record: 10-0
Senior year strikeouts: 132 in 63 innings
Senior year ERA: 0.00
Career record: 33-3
Career strikeouts: 476 in 254 innings pitched
Career ERA: 0.83
Career complete games: 28
Career shutouts: Eight
Career no-hitters: One
Career one-hitters: Four
Career two-hitters: Two
E-mail: jimr@desnews.com