Draft 2010: Machado compared to Rodriguez
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Manny Machado.
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He is a hotshot Miami high school shortstop. He is of Dominican descent, visiting there just last weekend. He is the product of a household without a father. He is tall and lanky, smooth and slick, with future power in the forecast at whatever position he settles. He is represented by agent-to-the-stars Scott Boras.
That's the Alex Rodriguez story.
That's also the story in the making of Manny Machado, who, by the way, wears the same number -- 3 -- that A-Rod donned in Seattle and Texas.
"I got to play against one and coach one -- the similarities are eerie," said Lazaro Fundora, who played against A-Rod's Westminster Christian while attending Miami Brito Private School, where for the past four years he has coached Machado, 18. "They grew up without a family, a core family. Both are Dominican. Both play shortstop. Both make the game look really easy at the high-school level. They both were fed the same impressions, that they're going to fill up too much to play the shortstop position.
"I played against [A-Rod] in high school. That game, our starting pitcher was so nervous. I wasn't a pitcher, but I ended up on the mound, and he hit a grand slam off me. That was the home run that gave him a little extra in his signing bonus."
It's far too premature to anoint the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Machado as A-Rod caliber, but some major league club selecting among the top five Monday night figures to snag itself a prospective power-hitting infielder. The Pirates stand in a prime position to draft him, at No. 2, though two obstacles remain:
• He is advised by Boras who, through difficult and protracted negotiations, landed the highest bonus in team history with Pedro Alvarez's $6,355,000 two years ago at No. 2 overall.
• He maintains that, if this draft business doesn't work out, he could always settle into shortstop for Florida International University, whose scholarship offer he accepted last fall.
Asked if this entire draft process was starting to wear on him, Machado said: "Not really, man. ... It has been a great situation, with all the attention scouts have given me. I thank them each time I see them. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
"Maybe twice if I go to FIU."
Not that he has anything against the Pirates. He thoroughly enjoyed one of their scouts, Southeast supervisor Rodney Henderson, who supposedly became such a fixture at Brito that he unbuttoned his dress shirt and tossed batting practice to the kids.
First Published June 5, 2010 12:00 am
