Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990 TAG: 9006080291
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But Coles already has been drafted - by a major-league baseball team.
Late Wednesday, the California Angels picked the former Virginia Tech basketball star in the 53rd round of baseball's amateur draft on the recommendation of Bobby Myrick, the club's Atlantic Region scouting supervisor, who is based in Roanoke. Myrick had seen Coles dribble a basketball but never has seen him swing a bat.
Coles was the Angels' final pick in the three-day draft, which ended Wednesday.
"We're talking about a good kid who has athletic ability," Myrick said of the 6-foot-1, 181-pounder, who finished his Tech basketball career as the all-time leading scorer at the school and in the Metro Conference. "He's a very good athlete. We understand about the NBA thing. We took a flier on him."
Coles, whom Myrick said was scouted by pro baseball teams as a senior at Greenbrier East (W.Va.) High School, said he wants to wait until after the NBA draft before he seriously considers playing pro baseball.
Coles is projected as a first-round NBA draft pick. But, he said, the possibility of trying pro baseball after a four-year layoff is intriguing.
"I've always loved playing baseball," said Coles, who on Wednesday returned from Chicago, where he was one of several prospective draft choices who underwent physical examinations by NBA representatives. "It's something I would try . . . just to go out and try out, to see how good a player I really am and just take it from there."
Coles said he was worried that publicity about the Angels' interest would harm his draft status in the NBA by scaring away teams who might not want to share their draftee with another pro sport.
However, Randy Vataha, one of the agents who is working with Coles, said he doesn't think the Angels' move will affect Coles' standing with NBA teams. Vataha also doesn't think the Angels' interest can be used as a bargaining tool with an NBA club.
"He's really been a basketball player first all along," Vataha said. "If you're going to play [pro] football, there's only one place to play - the NFL. In basketball, if you're not happy with your situation, you can go to Europe. This is not an incredible level of leverage."
Coles said he has been playing softball in a Blacksburg city league this summer, mostly at shortstop or second base or in the outfield. When Myrick was asked to predict what position Coles might play if he signed with the Angels, he said either shortstop or center field.
"His hands are OK, his feet are fine, he's got the athletic ability, his instincts are great. He could play the middle - shortstop or center field," Myrick said. "I think he could go get the ball."
\ In other baseball draft news, Radford pitcher Phil Leftwich will hold a news conference today, apparently to announce that he has signed with the California Angels, who chose him Monday in the second round of the draft.
Leftwich's batterymate, catcher Phillip Haney, was chosen by San Diego after the 40th round, the school announced Thursday.
And a VMI spokesman said Keydets catcher Andy Beasley will sign with the St. Louis Cardinals today and report to Hamilton (Ontario) of the Class A New York-Penn League. Beasley was a fourth-round choice of the Cardinals.
by CNB