Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 3, 1993 TAG: 9306030016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Wagner's missile-launching left arm will make him a first-round choice when the major-league teams begin their annual draft of amateur players today. Many say Wagner will be among the the first 15 picks. Just to sign a contract last year, the average first-rounder was given a sum approaching $500,000. If the prospect reaches the big leagues, his potential earnings are staggering.
So we may assume that Wagner, of the tiny Tazewell County burg of Tannersville, is in a state of advanced bliss at this point.
Well, not exactly.
Wagner paces. He answers a phone that never seems to stop ringing. He stares at the ceiling as he attempts - mostly without success - to sleep. He trys to work. Wagner takes out his anxieties on the well-worn wall of a storage building near the home of he and his cousins - the Lamie family - by trying to throw 95-mph fastballs through it.
Say Billy, you think you're going to be nervous today?
"Ain't no thinking to it," he said.
It's anybody's guess in the cloak-and-dagger world of baseball scouting where Wagner will land.
"My feeling is Detroit," he said. "They're the ones who seem the most interested in me. But I'll probably go to Kansas City or Boston. They're the ones that haven't really even talked to me."
The team doesn't matter to Ferrum coach Abe Naff.
"I hope he goes as high in the draft as he can go and gets as much money as he can get," Naff said. "He deserves it."
Naff has seen Wagner go from a 5-foot-8, 145-pound kid from Tazewell High with a good heater to a 5-10 1/2, 185-pounder who is one of the most coveted left-handers in the draft. Naff, a former catcher, has been on the receiving end of some of Wagner's deliveries.
"It wasn't very easy," Naff said. "It's shocking how hard he throws. I don't know how anybody hits him. It amazes me when somebody fouls one off."
Most scouts say they believe Wagner ultimately will become a short reliever. To prepare for that day, Wagner has been honing a change-up to go with the fastball and a curve that is just wild enough to make hitters uncomfortable.
Other than Wagner, the draftable talent in this area is believed to be rather thin. One player who appears to have a good shot at a pro career is Virginia Tech shortstop Dee Dalton, who batted over .300 with 14 home runs this year.
Dalton, the best prospect out of Roanoke since Cleveland Indians minor-league George Canale, finds himself in an unusual and enviable position: He is a sophomore who is old enough to qualify for the draft. If he likes a team's offer, he'll sign, Hokies coach Chuck Hartman said. If not, he can return to Tech for his junior year - the first year of college when most players are eligible for the draft - without hurting his marketability.
"He has our blessings whatever he wants to do," Hartman said.
Aside from Wagner, the only sure-fire first-rounder in the state is believed to be right-handed reliever Wayne Gomes of Old Dominion University. Gomes throws a fastball that has been clocked in the mid-90s and a slider that is said to make the knees of strong men quake.
As hectic as recent weeks have been for Wagner, he says he's still enjoying himself.
"This kind of stuff doesn't happen to me all the time," he said.
by CNB