While the annual Major League Baseball draft usually is not a big spectacle for most sports fans across the country - unlike its sports brethren the NFL and NBA - it was a very important time for several players on Virginia's baseball team.
On June 4 and 5, when baseball held its annual 50 round first-year player's draft, four Virginia team members received a call that some young men only dream about.
Junior Robert Word was the first Cavalier to realize that dream, when he was picked in the 10th round - 293rd player overall - by the Florida Marlins. The first baseman started in all 57 games he played during the 2002 season, batting .322 and driving in 49 runs, which was second on the team. Word's 20 doubles were the second most ever in a season at Virginia, while his 11 home runs put him in a tie for the 11th best home run record for the Cavaliers.
Robert "is a great player," Virginia coach Dennis Womack said. "He does everything that we need him to do. He is terrific on and off of the field."
Because Word is only a junior at Virginia, he has the option to try out with the Marlins, or stay with the Cavaliers for a senior season. But staying at Virginia for another year would give Word a chance to better his position in the draft with a solid senior season.
It is in this way that the MLB draft is different than many of the professional sports drafts. Teams are allowed to draft anyone they want, whether in high school or college, and the players have the option to go play with the team that drafted them or stay in school and try to improve their draft position during the next season. If the players drafted decided not to sign with their respective team, that team loses all rights to the player.
The next Virginia player picked came 10 rounds later, when the Colorado Rockies selected senior Dan Street as the 591st pick overall. Street played third base in 52 of his 57 starts, while also working as a starting pitcher for the Cavaliers in his other five starts.
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Street led the Cavaliers in most offense categories this past season including batting average (.371), hits (86), RBIs (59) and doubles (23). His 23 doubles were an all-time record at Virginia. He was named to the 2002 All-Conference second team, following a first-team appearance the year before.
Street "was one of the leaders on the team," Word said of his teammate. "He has so much talent and knows how to get the job done."
Virginia players were shut out for the next 16 rounds, before David Stone and Chris Sweet were picked in consecutive rounds as the 1087th and 1117th picks overall.
Stone, who was selected by the San Francisco Giants, was a senior outfielder, who scored a team high 53 runs, while batting .360 in starting all 57 of Virginia's games. He is Virginia's all-time leader in walks and steals with 156 and 83 respectively.
Starting beside Stone in center field was Sweet, also picked by the Giants, who was the second junior to be picked from Virginia. Sweet started all 57 games, in which he batted .298 with 36 runs scored and 25 RBIs.
"Our team was a great bunch of guys, who had a lot of talent," Womack said. "These guys weren't only talented, but they added so much off the field. They will be successful in whatever they do"
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