Bucking the odds
Suddenly, Northeastern's Pena is a top prospect
Posted: Monday June 1, 1998 9:00 AM
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Rising stock: Pena, who hit .342 with 13 homers and 52 RBIs last season at Northeastern, could be a top-10 pick (AP) |
BOSTON (AP) -- The college kid was so excited when Pedro Martinez
phoned to invite him over that he wouldn't erase the message from
his answering machine. That same kid -- cool and confident with a
bat -- might not be so awestruck if he hits against Martinez.
Carlos Pena may get that chance.
“He's tough and everybody knows it,” Pena says as one of his
frequent smiles starts spreading, “but I'll give him a battle.”
Against difficult odds, that determination made him a
first-round prospect -- perhaps a top 10 pick -- in the baseball
draft starting Tuesday. Not bad for a boy who hit popcorn kernels
and bottle caps in the Dominican Republic to sharpen his eye.
At 14, Pena was uprooted from his native country by parents who
gave up their jobs as an engineer and an accountant to seek a
better life for their four children. He wasn't highly recruited out
of high school and took a partial scholarship to Wright State in
Ohio.
But he missed his family and hit only .247 as a freshman first
baseman. So he transferred to Northeastern and began to blossom.
He's grown to a 6-foot-2, 210-pound power hitter and has worked
hard to improve his speed and defense.
But Northeastern was an unlikely place -- an urban school beside
a busy street where trolleys clatter -- for a star to emerge. Unlike
prospects from southern and western colleges, he was limited by the
chilly climate. In the winter, he'd improvise by hitting pitches
from 20 feet away in a racquetball court.
“The more you struggle,” he said, “you learn to appreciate
things.”
Yet he never lost sight of his dream.
“Other people become engineers, become doctors, which is
incredibly great. For some reason my goal in life is to be a
professional baseball player,” Pena said. “I have this in my head
to be the best and I know I can do it.”
“The potential stood right out, especially as a hitter,” said
Dave Soper, a Philadelphia Phillies scout who began watching him at
suburban Haverhill High School. “He's just one of the nicest, most
dedicated people you'll meet.”
Pena, a 20-year-old junior, is outgoing, respectful, humble and
very popular. As he sits on a bench outside Northeastern's gym on a
sunny day, more than a dozen passersby wave and say hello. He
returns the greetings.
Martinez lived less than a half hour from Pena's Santo Domingo
home and has many of the same qualities despite his star status and
$75 million guaranteed contract with the Boston Red Sox. He invited
Pena, who was being recruited by Martinez's agent, and a friend to
join him and some Oakland players at his home after a game April 15
with the A's.
“I was excited,” Pena said. “Then when I'm leaving his house
he said, ‘I have a day off tomorrow. I'm going to your game. Where
is it?' He's a superstar and he comes out and says. ‘I'm going to
watch Carlos play.’ That's amazing.
“When he sees me, I think he sees himself when he was 19 or
20.”
Martinez hopes Pena will remember the visit and, if he reaches
the majors, give young players the same encouragement Martinez gave
at the Friedman Baseball Diamond -- Northeastern's bare-bones field
with few seats in a crowded neighborhood.
“He has a lot of talent and a good future,” Martinez said.
“He's a good student, very smart.”
A week before the draft that could lead to a lucrative career,
Pena talked about the two papers he had to write for classes the
next day even though he'll probably be playing for a big-league
organization very soon. An engineering major, he has a grade-point
average of about 3.4.
“Knowledge is power,” he said. “Not knowing is not a good
feeling.”
This season, he learned patience even though scouts wanted to
see him hit. But pitchers kept the ball away, and he had 51 walks
and just 146 official at-bats. Still, he finished with 13 homers,
52 RBIs and a .342 batting average.
“If you're going to predict what players are going to make it
all the way to the big leagues, Carlos certainly fits the
profile,” Northeastern coach Neil McPhee said.
“I want to get there as soon as I possibly can because I'm
planning on having a long career,” Pena said without a trace of
arrogance.
Pena hit popcorn kernels and bottle caps in the Dominican Republic to sharpen his eye (AP) | |
His stock soared last summer in the Cape Cod League where the
country's top amateurs play. He was just as dangerous with a wooden
bat as the aluminum one used in college, leading the league in
homers and RBIs and finishing third with a .318 average. He made
one error in 419 chances and won the Sportsmanship and MVP awards.
He said he was insulted when he was shifted from outfield to
first base after coming to the United States because, he was told,
he was too slow. That made him work even harder and he led
Northeastern with 12 stolen bases this season.
“I look at Ken Griffey Jr. Then I look at Barry Bonds, Alex
Rodriguez. These guys can do it all,” Pena said. “That's what I
want to be. I have to work on my throwing, my hitting, my running,
my fielding, everything.”
His modesty extends to a homer he hit in the 1997 NCAA playoffs
against Bethune-Cookman. McPhee said it went 464 feet. Soper said
it traveled farther. Pena said he just put his head down and ran.
It cleared the 330-foot right-field fence, traveled 70 feet over
the adjacent football field, cleared 12 rows of metal bleachers,
then went through the trees and onto a neighbor's second-floor,
wooden back porch.
“It was a shot,” Soper marvels. “Based on the way he works, I
don't see anything holding him back.”
Pena plans to spend next Tuesday with his family – “the people
who were there at the beginning” -- and said he's relaxed. He's not
hung up on who drafts him, although he'd like it to be the Red Sox,
who pick 12th.
He may not last that long.
“I worked so hard for this moment coming up,” Pena said. “I'm
not surprised. I'm happy and grateful that I am in this situation,
but this is what I wanted, this is what I expected.”
Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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