Rebirth Of The Bonus Baby

Juan Nieves was destined to be a bonus baby, but he didn't know it for sure until the summer of 1981, when a scout offered him a bonus—$40,000, Nieves says—to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies . Nieves, a lefthanded pitcher, says the offer was flattering but a bit premature. "I'd just finished the 10th grade," he says. "I told the scout. Thanks, but could you wait until I finish high school?' "

The scout waited. He really had no choice. It's illegal under baseball rules to make an offer to a U.S. high school student until his high school eligibility has expired. The Phillies ' scout, Luis Peraza, says he was just one of a number of scouts who made Nieves an offer—his was $35,000, he says—"and I'm still waiting for that boy. Juan Nieves is one of the best major league pitching prospects I have ever seen."

On May 25 the wait will be over. That's when the 18-year-old Nieves is scheduled to play his last game for the Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Conn. , after which he'll be able to sign a pro contract. A scout representing the Phillies will presumably be on the scene, as will be representatives from the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Blue Jays and the.... You get the picture.

As bidding wars go, it promises to be the most intense one for a high school baseball player in recent history. When it's over, says one agent, Nieves will probably bank the biggest bonus ever given to a high school player—larger than the record $200,000 that Darryl Strawberry received in 1980 from the Mets . "We're talking about a potential franchise player," the agent says. "Juan Nieves' situation is extraordinarily unique."

What makes Nieves' case different is that he's from Guaynabo , Puerto Rico and thus not subject to the June 6-8 amateur draft, as are other U.S. high school phenoms who are residents of the 50 states. These prospects can negotiate only with the club that drafts them. Nieves, on the other hand, will be free to consider offers from as many of the 26 major league organizations as choose to make a bid.

And if Nieves doesn't like any of his offers, he has an alternative: a baseball scholarship to the University of Southern California , the school he chose last week over more than 75 others. "I'm in the driver's seat," Nieves says confidently. "If the money's right, I'll probably go pro. College would be great because I could play baseball and get my education. But my parents need the money. Moneywise, we're kind of weak. But I'm not going to consider any bonus under six figures. I've got it my way now."

Nieves is an articulate, 6'3", 175-pounder who already throws an average major league fastball (87 mph, although he has been clocked at 93, according to his coaches). As this week began, he had a three-year record of 17-0, had struck out nearly two batters per inning and was hitting .509 at Avon, a prestigious 360-student boys' boarding school located on a rustic 1,000-acre campus 15 minutes outside of Hartford .

Nieves says he probably would have quit school in Puerto Rico and turned pro by this time if he hadn't been offered an $8,600-a-year full tuition-and-board scholarship to Avon in the summer of 1980. It was a scout, Vic Power of the California Angels , who introduced Nieves to Avon. "We'd taken our team to Puerto Rico for a series of games that spring," says Peter Evans, Avon's baseball coach and athletic director. "Power, who lives in Guaynabo and who had helped us make arrangements there, said, 'I know a boy you might be interested in. He's a great kid, a great student, a great pitcher. But he needs a scholarship.' So I interviewed Juan and told him to send us his academic transcript and to write an essay on why he'd like to go to a prep school in New England ."

Nieves, who says he had a C-plus average at the Academia Menonita in Guaynabo—he has a B-minus at Avon—turned in a 137-word essay that began: "I would like to go to your school because it would help me improve my English. I would learn other sports and I would acquire a good education and get prepared for college. I would meet other boys and see snow for the first time. I would try to do my best."

At first, Nieves says, he was jolted by the contrasts between life in Guaynabo , on the outskirts of San Juan, and the Connecticut prep school campus, with its ancient-looking Cotswold-style buildings and regimented daily schedule. Each boarding student is assigned a specific-campus job. Nieves, for example, makes the morning toast.