Southern second baseman is Weeks from becoming pro player
Southern second baseman is Weeks from becoming pro player
Wednesday February 26, 2003
By Peter Barrouquere
Staff writer
Nobody seemed to want Rickie Weeks when he graduated from high school.
Two years later, Weeks, Southern's second baseman, is projected by some to be America's most wanted baseball player.
Baseball America predicts Weeks, a junior, will be the first player picked in the June major-league draft. He was passed over by every major-league team when he graduated from Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs, Fla. He said only two colleges were interested, Southern and George Washington.
"I thought he was even better than everything I had heard about him," said UNO coach Randy Bush, whose Privateers faced Weeks in two early-season games and play the Jaguars again today in Baton Rouge. "He's going to be just a tremendous major-league player for a long time. He's just outstanding. He's a great hitter, and he's got tremendous power."
Weeks went 3-for-7 against the Privateers on Feb. 8 and 9. He hit a home run off the scoreboard in left field, drove in two runs and stole three bases. In batting practice he put on a show for the 26 major-league scouts in the stands and hit one ball over the scoreboard.
So why did almost everyone pass on Weeks out of high school?
"You're asking a million-dollar question," Southern coach Roger Cador said. "A lot of people would like to ask that question now. If I had to give an opinion, it's probably because he was 5-11 and 175 pounds and was playing out of position in left field."
Weeks said he always dreamed of being a major-leaguer. The dream didn't die when the scouts and college recruiters failed to notice his potential.
"You've got to dream sometimes," he said. "My parents always say, 'You've to dream, and once you got there you've got to work to achieve it, too.' My main thing is to go out there and achieve everything my full potential will allow me."
Cador might have missed out on Weeks if two of his former players, Jerry Flowers and Marco Paddy, now scouts for the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves, hadn't telephoned him.
"They saw him play, and they both raved about him," Cador said. "They said he had potential to be a really good professional player. Their organizations didn't see the same things they saw in him."
Cador went to Orlando to watch Weeks play in an all-star game. There were five players in the event that would be drafted in the first round, and at least 30 scouts checking them out.
After Cador saw Weeks take batting practice, he felt he had wasted a trip.
"I saw the nice, easy swing, the ball jumping off his bat," Cador said. "I saw the loose body. And when the game started, I saw him run 4.1 from the right side to first. At that point, I just knew, no way was I going to have a chance to sign him because then, I felt, someone would show an interest in him. But they didn't."
Weeks hit .422 with 14 home runs and drove in 70 runs in 55 games as a freshman. Last year, he led the NCAA in hitting (.495), runs scored (82) and slugging percentage (.995). He had 15 doubles, 12 triples, 20 homers and 96 RBIs.
Going into Tuesday night's doubleheader against Olive-Harvey of Chicago, Weeks, now 6 feet and 195 pounds, was batting .417 with two homers and seven RBIs.
"He went to the weight room and worked and got stronger," Cador said. "And I think some of the Louisiana food helped. He likes to eat. He put 15 pounds on his body. He added a lot more strength, and he began to drive the ball just crazy."
Weeks admits to having an appetite for work in the weight room and at the dinner table.
"Oh, yeah," he said, smiling. "In Louisiana, you've got your crawfish etouffee, your red beans and rice. You learn to like that stuff in a hurry."
Although Weeks is probably about to hit baseball's version of the lottery, he said his personality is unchanged.
"I've got some strong people behind me," he said in a soft voice. "People like Coach Cador and my parents. They brought me up pretty well, really. My main thing right now is to keep working as hard as I can to get better."
If Weeks' life has changed, it's in how people now perceive him.
"When you've got a label like this hanging over your head, you've just got to run with it, really," he said. "Of course I'm excited about it. But I'm more excited about our season. Things are going to happen. So the main thing is to go out there and have fun and help the team win. That's all I can do."
Cador said he doesn't have to worry about Weeks getting an inflated ego. After the Jaguars won their second consecutive SWAC tournament last season, most of the players went out to celebrate.
"(Weeks) was in the weight room working, trying to get better," Cador said. "He had just been named the Most Valuable Player, the Outstanding Hitter in the Conference."
The only knock on Weeks is where he'll play in the pros. He was a center fielder his freshman year. He started last season at shortstop, then moved to second to make room for Fernando Puebla.
"He's such a good athlete, I'm sure there's a number of positions he can play in the big leagues," said Bush, who played 12 seasons with the Minnesota Twins and was the Chicago Cubs' minor-league hitting coordinator before coming back to UNO.
