A day after the parent Padres paid host to a pair of incidents considerably weirder than a luxury box denizen throwing money onto the field (ie. Alberto Castillo hitting a home run and the Orioles winning a series), their no. 1 overall pick from 2004, Matt Bush (above, right) — selected ahead of Stephen Drew and Wevie Stonder II — is profiled by the New York Times’ Lee Jenkins.
Peoria is the spring home of the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners ” a place to be in March, not June. Most players here now are right out of high school or out of Latin America, staying at the La Quinta Inn and preparing for the rookie league season.
Matt Bush was here at this time three years ago, after the Padres drafted him with the first overall pick and pegged him as their shortstop of the future.
The future arrived Wednesday morning, but not exactly the way it was envisioned. Bush climbed atop a pitcher™s mound, rubbed up a baseball and kicked at the rubber. Six coaches studied him. One-hundred-and-three degrees beat down on him.
In the history of baseball™s amateur draft, only two players taken with the No. 1 pick have failed to make the major leagues ” Brien Taylor, chosen by the Yankees in 1991; and Steve Chilcott, chosen by the Mets in 1966.
Bush will do anything to keep from joining that list. Right now, for example, he is learning how to pitch.
œThis feels like a new life for me, Bush said. œIt feels like I™m finally about to have some success.
Appropriately enough, Bush was assigned Wednesday to Field 1, in a complex that houses 16 fields. Here, the Padres are trying to salvage a No. 1 pick, the No. 1 pick is trying to salvage his career, and both are trying to save some face.
Bush does not look like a pitcher. He is 5 feet 10 inches and 189 pounds, with the build of a middle infielder. But his delivery is simple and smooth. His fastball travels about 95 miles an hour. In a batting-practice session Wednesday, no one could touch him.
Players whistled. Coaches grinned. Jim Lefebvre, a former major league manager and a consultant for the Padres, turned to the aluminum bleachers with his mouth open. œThat is legit, Lefebvre said. There was one fan sitting in the bleachers.
The last time Bush threw a pitch in a baseball game, he was at Mission Bay High School in San Diego. For the past three seasons, he played shortstop in the minor leagues, and he did not play it particularly well, batting .218 with 136 strikeouts and 75 errors.
Bush has never advanced beyond Class A. He has struggled in every facet of the game, except one. He can throw hard enough to rip the mitt off a first baseman™s hand.
If any organization truly believes that a shortstop can be converted into a superstar pitcher, it is the Padres. Seventeen years ago, Trevor Hoffman batted .212 as a shortstop at Class A Charleston, a minor league affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.
œYou don™t want to compare a guy to Hoffman, but Matt Bush has big-league stuff right now, Mike Couchee, the Padres™ minor league pitching coordinator, said. œI believe this is what he™s meant to do. This is his calling.
My favorite story about Bush is that the day after he was drafted by the Pads, the team gave his friends and family use of a luxury box for a game at Petco. Bush and Co. responded to the Padres’ actions — which guaranteed the 18 year old a few million bucks –by stealing fixtures from the box.
By the way, it shouldn’t be all that hard for Kevin Towers to “turn the page”, as he says, on this godawful draft pick. The Moores family forced him to pick the kid, partially because they didn’t want to get gouged by Scott Boras, as alluded to in the article. Plus, hey, he’s a local kid, as though that really matters to anyone in America’s Finest City.
I hate Matt Bush. I really do. I don’t know what the Padres were thinking when they passed on the likes of Jered Weaver, Justin Verlander (2006 AL Rookie of the Year), and Stephen Drew. Actually, I take that back — the miserly Padres were scared of Boras, like Mr. Swiderski mentioned, and it cost them. Imagine if the Padres had Verlander, Peavy, and Young locked up for several years; quite frankly, I’d rather the Padres deal with Boras and spend $10 million on a Verlander and get their money’s worth than “save” a few million on a crap prospect like Matt Bush.
Matt Bush was obviously raised by some jerkwads… Hey, 18 years old and getting stupid with millions of dollars on the line… The Madres should have left him alone in Vegas with the $3 million and they would have come out better. May he drink and drive one time too many and the Padres recover some of their money (if it isn’t too late).