Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

Granite City senior signing with Louisville keeps his eye on pros

The University of Louisville may stop recruiting metro-east baseball talent if another high-profile recruit decides to turn pro.

Louisville lost former Highland star pitcher Jake Odorizzi in 2008 after the Milwaukee Brewers made the flame-throwing right-hander and USA Today National Player of the Year the 32nd overall pick in the draft.

The same thing could happen again with Louisville recruit Jake DePew, a Granite City Warriors senior considered one of the top catching prospects in the country.

DePew will sign his letter of intent today to play for the Redbirds, but Granite City coach Daren DePew said his son could go as high as the first five rounds of the 2010 Baseball Draft in June.

"That seems to still be the speculation," Daren DePew said Tuesday. "There's different people's opinions and there's a lot that's going to happen between now and then. But with the people we talk to, that's been mentioned in some of the conversations.

"That kind of attention is nice. Jake has put a lot of hard work into all of it, so it's good for him."

Jake DePew listened to Louisville coach Dan McDonnell's recruiting pitch during his official visit and came away impressed. But he also knows that top-five round draft picks can command signing bonuses that feature the kind of money that could put college on hold.

"He hoped he could get me there and he thinks that I'm going to be a big part of it," said DePew, who also has talked to Odorizzi about the pressures of being a high-profile recruit sought after by college and the pros. "He's given me some advice and it's helped."

In recent years, O'Fallon catcher Nick Tindall and Mater Dei's Josh Thole each made the jump from preps to the minor leagues by signing pro contracts after their senior year.

Thole reached the majors last season with the New York Mets.

DePew (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) wowed the scouts with a junior season that included a .558 average, 21 doubles, four triples, seven home runs, 53 RBIs and 46 runs scored.

He also had 18 stolen bases and earlier this year was named the No. 4 overall senior prospect in the state by Prep Baseball Report magazine.

"There hasn't been a whole lot said about what round, but I'm aiming for as high as I can get," said Jake DePew, who also took visits to Illinois and Mississippi before committing to Louisville during his junior year. "I'm concentrating on getting myself better every day and after that, we'll let the scouts determine (what round).

"It's definitely a good problem to have."

DePew got added exposure over the summer at the Perfect Game USA National Showcase for the nation's top prospects held at the Metrodome in Minneapolis

"It was nice to play with the best players in the country and to be around all that," DePew said. "Every pitcher there was 90 mph or higher, so it was nice to play with those guys and see that level of competition the whole weekend."

DePew also attended a Midwest Scouting Association showcase event at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City and spent the summer playing for the St. Louis Pirates, an elite-level travel team.

Also a talented catcher who played at Illinois and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and spent a year in the minor leagues, Daren DePew was asked about his son's catching pedigree.

One thing's for sure -- dad's baseball DNA certainly helped.

"I think it's just in his blood," Daren DePew said. "He has a passion for the game similar to what I had and he's always been around it. But his passion might even be greater than mine because he made a decision to focus on baseball at a younger age than I did."

DePew also values his son's instincts so much he lets him call all the pitches.

"He's a solid receiver, he is very productive offensively and I think he handles himself well at the plate," Daren DePew said. "He's a disciplined hitter and runs better than most people expect him to run, that's something that has surprised many."

Not Jake DePew, who spent the entire summer before his senior year working with a trainer on improving his speed. He eventually got his 60-yard dash time below 7 seconds at a more than respectable 6.8.

After his sophomore year, the three-sport varsity starter dropped football and basketball to concentrate solely on baseball.

"My dad was a good player," the younger DePew said. "A lot of people say that we do a lot of things the same way on the baseball field. Our demeanor is very similar, so I take that as a compliment."