DOWNTOWN — Jeff Luhnow said it would be difficult to pass up on an infield bat, and with the 13th pick of the draft they took a two-time triple-crown winner, the most productive bat in the Pac-10: Brett Wallace.

According to some scouts, Wallace projects as a first baseman, though he played third base this season and the Cardinals were comfortable in the workouts they held with him at the position. Wallace has played first base before (for Arizona State) and he played left field for Team USA.

Wallace’s bat will put him somewhere in the field.

He hit .414 with 21 homers, 81 RBIs, 16 steals and he a 1.293 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage). He won the Pac-10 triple crown as a sophomore and improved on his numbers this year for the Sun Devils. The Cardinals also saw him perform well with a wood bat in the Cape Cod league.

“First, he is a pure bat,” Cardinals vice president Jeff Luhnow just said in a post-pick press conference with the media here in the team’s Busch Stadium administrative offices. “He’s a tremendous hitter. He doesn’t look like a prototypical outfielder or first baseman, but for a big guy he runs well. He’s really developed as a third baseman.”

Wallace’s Sun Devils will play in a Super Regional this weekend, and the Cardinals can begin talking contract with him when his team is eliminated.

He is the sixth position player taken in the first round by the Cardinals since 2003.

Here is Baseball America’s scouting report on Wallace:

Four of the top hitters in the college draft class-Wallace, Stanford’s Jason Castro, California’s David Cooper and South Carolina’s Jay Darnell-played together for NorCal Baseball’s travel team in high school. Wallace was a bad-bodied third baseman then, tipping the scales at close to 260 pounds. Many scouts still see him as a bad-body third baseman waiting to move to first, but others see more. Many see the best natural hitter in the West. Wallace has a strong swing with above-average bat speed; his swing path stays in the zone a long time and he has outstanding plate discipline. Defensively, Wallace had made just eight errors at third in 50 games, and he has at least average arm strength to go with nifty feet. While he’s cleaned up his body, he still has huge thighs that make it hard for him to get low enough to properly field groundballs. Scouts that think he could stay at third compare him to 2007 Indians first-rounder Beau Mills, who also had questionable skills at third. Those that don’t care for him cite his body and the short careers of players built similarly, such as Bob Hamelin. Wallace’s bat should get him drafted in the first round regardless, and most scouts give him at least above-average raw power grades.

Wallace has the thick legs and body type that has been a knock on him, and has fueled the notion that he’ll have to move off the hot corner as he advances toward the majors.

Chuck Fick, the scout who saw Wallace the most and has been on him since Wallace was in high school, just got off the phone with him. He told Wallace:

“Now we just have to decide where to hit you in the lineup.”

He is one of four finalists for the Dick Howser Award — the Heisman Trophy of baseball — and he is also a finalist for the Golden Spikes award.

There is video of him (not a coincidence) in the previous blog entry.

More on Wallace, including comments and back story, in the next entry.

-30-