Prospect With All The Tools

Five Fellow First-rounders
Count on these players to join Raleigh, N.C., sensation Josh Hamilton as first-round selections in major league baseball's amateur draft from June 2-4.
PLAYER	POSITION	SCHOOL	SEASON STATS
Josh Beckett	Pitcher (R)	Spring ( Texas) High	10-0, 69?, 142 Ks
	Throws in the mid-90s; extremely confident, hard-nosed
Bobby Bradley	Pitcher (R)	Wellington High, West Palm Beach, Fla.	9-1, 0.47 ERA
	Fastball in the low 90s, plus one of the best curves in the country
B.J. Garbe	Outfielder	Moses Lake (Wash.) High	588, 6 HR, 22 RBIs
	All-state quarterback strives to be the next Gwynn, not Griese
Eric Munson	Catcher	Southern Cal	.308, 10 HR, 32 RBIs
	Broken bone in hand kept junior out for five weeks; returned May 2, but stock could be down
Kyle Snyder	Pitcher (R)	North Carolina	7-2, 3.88 ERA
	6'8" junior mixes pitches well, throws hard; missed one start with triceps tendinitis, came back strong

Because humility is a commodity highly prized in Raleigh, N.C., no one in the Hamilton household will say what seems obvious: They knew. Tony and Linda Hamilton knew, of course. Heck, their baby boy, Josh, was just seven years old the first time one of the rockets he launched from shortstop left a maroon welt on the battered palm of an unsuspecting tyke first baseman. Parents would complain to Linda, call her son a bully, a freak of nature. Finally, when nobody on Josh's team would play first anymore ("They all started ducking when the ball came," he recalls), Linda got her boy moved up to Little League.

The teammates changed. So did the opposing players. The maroon welts did not. The Hamiltons knew. No doubt about it.

In Raleigh, at Athens Drive High, everyone tells Josh Hamilton tales, save for the boy himself. John Thomas, the Jaguars' baseball coach, remembers seeing Josh a couple of years back at a skills camp at North Carolina State. "I didn't know who he was," says Thomas, "but he was 6'3", 190 pounds, and I just knew—from his size, from the way he shook my hand, from his demeanor—that this kid had something special."

Joey Bell, one of Thomas's assistants, flips the reverse button to three seasons ago, when, as a sophomore, Josh suffered such intense growing pains that his whole body felt as if it were coming apart. He could barely swing the bat. He never pitched. In the playoffs, against Lee County, he took the mound. "The kid threw four shutout innings without having thrown all year," says Bell. "That doesn't happen. It just ain't supposed to be."

Consider this: Josh Beckett, the highly touted righty from Spring ( Texas) High, throws his fastball in the mid-90s. He has scouts drooling. Eric Munson, the Southern Cal catcher, hits for power to all fields and is a defensive standout. He has scouts drooling. Josh Hamilton, the probable No. 1 pick in the June amateur draft, is 7-1 with 83 strikeouts in 47 innings this season and ticks 96 mph on the radar gun. He is batting .556 with 11 home runs, 34 RBIs and, most astonishingly, only four whiffs in 63 at bats. He hits for power to all fields. In centerfield he's an instinctive defender with a phenomenal arm and a smooth, quick stride that helps him cover the alleys with ease. Thomas says, "Can you imagine someone so good at so much that he could be a lefthander throwing 96 miles per hour—and not be wanted as a pitcher?"

Imagine. If the Tampa Bay Devil Rays select Josh, who is 17, with the top pick, he will become the first high school outfielder drafted No. 1 since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987—and not the first pitcher since Brien Taylor in '91. That just ain't supposed to happen. Precocious lefties with lightning arms don't pop up often. When they do, you snatch 'em. Josh, however, is as complete an amateur position player as they come.

"He's better at this game than anyone else I've seen in high school or college," says Thomas, a former outfielder at East Carolina. Josh's swing, honed with years and years of in-season BP, off-season BP and backyard BP, is creamy-smooth. A slight lift of the front leg, a cock or two of the high left elbow, then—whoooosshh!—the perfect flow of aluminum through wind.

Recently, following an Athens Drive game, a couple of scouts asked Josh to stick around and hit. He did. About 20 pitches were thrown at him. Eight went over the outfield wall. "He has every tool we look for in a position player," says Dan Jennings, Tampa Bay's scouting director. "The best thing is his intensity. He's shown us a true passion for the game. You don't always find that."

Relaxing in the school gymnasium on a recent rainy Wednesday, size 19 feet propped up on an empty chair, Josh, who is now 6'4" and 205 pounds, looks every bit the Athens Drive BMOC. He's approached by men, women, boys, girls. Hey, Josh. Was-sup, Josh? Young women pass by, give him the once-over. How're you doing, Josh? He doesn't seem to notice. He dates regularly but will not be attending the senior prom. "I can't have anything bad happen to me now," he says. "If I'm put in an awkward situation...there's too much on the line."

He is handsome, with chiseled features, blue eyes, a short crop of light brown hair that never seems out of place. He's quick with a self-deprecating story. "My mama, sometimes she tells people about this pin she keeps with her," says Josh. What's it for? "So she can do this"—he takes an imaginary needle, pokes it in his head and makes a deflating pfffff.