As Draft nears, Wright reflects on his selection

MILWAUKEE -- In 2003, Wesley Wright was a skinny pitcher for Goshen (Ala.) High School. Area scout Clarence Johns arranged for Wright to pitch at a regional workout in New Orleans with eight other players before the First-Year Player Draft that year.

Johns scouted players for the Dodgers, and Tommy Lasorda attended the workout in New Orleans.

"After I threw off the mound, Lasorda called me over," Wright said Saturday, recalling the day. "He said he liked what he saw, and he said I was going to be a Dodger. It happened a few weeks later."

Wright had hoped to be picked in the Draft, but he expected it would happen in the late rounds. Scouts told him that he was too small at 5-foot-9, 138 pounds, and had recommended he go to college.

"I thought I might eventually be a Dodger, but it might be a real late Draft pick," Wright said. "When they called in the seventh round, it was kind of cool that I had that moment. I still have a picture from that day that we took. It was my first introduction into the business side of pro ball and dealing with scouts and workouts. That was the ony pre-Draft workout I went to."

The Cubs have the fourth overall pick in Thursday's Draft, and this is the last weekend their scouts can get a look at some of the top talent available. Wright's story just shows you never know what will happen.

"My scout, Clarence Johns, really believed in me," Wright said. "It was his belief that convinced me that I was ready."