Draft-Pick Russell: “Ball’s in My Court”
DOWNTOWN — The Cardinals dispatched a couple officials to Wichita, Kan., in the past few days to meet with and watch fourth-round draft pick and collegiate slugger Kyle Russell. While they might have missed his best game, they told him an offer was forthcoming.
He’s eager to see if it’s the kind of deal that starts his life as a pro.
Time’s ticking.
“If things are what I’m looking for then I’m ready to get started (on a professional career),” Russell said when reached Tuesday. “I’d like to get going on my dream right away. It’s been a goal to play professional baseball and I’m ready. We’ll see what happens.”
(Check out out Russell’s home run at Minute Maid Park at YouTube.)
Some of this is covered elsewhere online and in print here at The Post-Dispatch, but I wanted to elaborate on the note in Wednesday’s paper and offer some quotes from Russell after catching up to him Tuesday.
The Cardinals have until August 15 to sign Russell, who was taken in the fourth round of the most recent draft. As mentioned in Wednesday’s paper, it’s believed that Russell — who led the NCAA in home runs – is seeking a signing bonus more reflective of his power numbers than his draft slot. The Cardinals have been reluctant in the past to break from the ranks of set signing bonuses, though there are several officials internally who hopes the franchise makes an exception in Russell’s case.
Russell, pictured here on his wood-bat summer league club, hit 28 home runs as a sophomore for Texas this past season and there continues to be considerable sentiment that he’ll return to the Longhorns for his junior season and a chance to enhance his draft position.
On Thursday he repeated his stance: He’s eager to go pro, if the offer is right.
The Cardinals have kept close tabs on the lefthanded-hitting outfielder throughout this summer as he’s played for the Santa Barbara team in the California Collegiate League. As many as five different Cardinals scouts have seen him play this summer. A couple officials attended the opening games of the National Baseball Congress World Series — where Russell’s Santa Barbara team is the defending champion — earlier this week. In addition to watching him play, the two Cardinals instructors took video of Russell’s batting practice. It’s a practice the Cardinals have employed with other draft picks (like first-round pick Peter Kozma), and it allows them to zip what they saw to the laptops of the execs who will write the formal offer.
Russell joked that it’s too bad they didn’t stick around. The Cardinals officials saw him strike out a few times, and then on Tuesday he went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored in the Foresters’ victory.
A draft-eligible sophomore, Russell has tremendous leverage when it comes to negotiating a signing bonus. He will have two more shots at the June draft — though if he cranks another 26 home runs he probably won’t need to wait until after his senior season to score a first-round bonus. When the Cardinals drafted him, there was belief that he slipped to the fourth round because signability was a concern.
Not just the cost of signability, but the likelihood of his returning to Texas no matter the offer.
The couple times I’ve spoken with Russell he’s insisted that his return to Texas is not the done deal it has been made out to be. Not like, he offered, when he was coming out of high school and told scouts and teams that he was seeking an outrageous signing bonus that he expected would scare off suitors. In his sophomore year at Texas, Russell finished the collegiate season with 28 home runs and an .807 slugging percentage. He hit .336 and drove in 71 runs on 75 hits in 63 games.
He struck out 64 times against 46 walks.
Russell won the Big 12 Player of the Year Award and a unanimous All-American.
The offer he expects his advisors to receive in the next couple days from the Cardinals will be the first offer he’s received.
“The ball’s in my court,” Russell said. “If things don’t work out this time, I’ll go back to UT and we’ll see if something can be worked out next year at this time. I have a lot of options and it’s an exciting time. … If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen fast.”
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Certainly sounds as though Russell wants to sign this year. Let’s hope the money gap can be bridged. Maybe his last two games (5 for 9) have helped ease some doubts about his ability with the wood bat. He had a miserable time with it last summer and was struggling late this season before Monday’s NBC game–his average had dropped to .232 with a .385 slg.
Russell probably realizes that more games with an aluminum bat are not going to further his development. It’s in his interest to sign now. This appears to be a good opportunity for the Cardinals, even if it takes first-round money to get him.