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Tampa Catholic's Denard Span is taken 20th and becomes 15th Hillsborough player drafted in first round.
By MIKE READLING, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 5, 2002
TAMPA -- It was just minutes after 1 p.m. and Denard Span was perched on a small coffee table in his living room.
Sitting on the gray couch behind the Tampa Catholic outfielder were brother Ray over his left shoulder and family adviser Ray Anderson over his right. Span's mother, Wanda Wilson, looked down at the trio while she sat at the dining room table.
Denard Span looked over his shoulder as Anderson, cell phone crammed between his shoulder and ear, scribbled down teams and players as they were announced. Span, predicted by many to be a top-20 pick, watched as the list grew longer without his name.
Then he heard nothing.
"When (Anderson) wrote down Twins, all of a sudden there was a pause," he said. "I finally heard the lady on the phone say, "Twins. Span.' "
Just like that, the 18-year-old Span was the No. 20 selection by Minnesota in the amateur draft. He became the 15th player from Hillsborough County to be selected in the first round and the first since Jesuit's Geoff Goetz was taken sixth overall in 1997.
Span, who hit .490 last season and signed a scholarship to play at Florida, was the third outfielder taken and third Florida high school player picked in the first round. He is expected to command between $1.3-million and $1.5-million as a signing bonus based on what players drafted around the same position received last season.
The Twins were an unexpected destination partly because Minnesota didn't make its first contact with Span until Monday, and that was an area scout calling to "see if I had anything against Minnesota," Denard Span said. General manager Terry Ryan told Span on Tuesday that he never had seen him play in person but had seen video and read reports of his talent.
Upon hearing the news that the past year of heavy recruiting, trips across the United States and Cuba and the spotlight of the high school season finally paid off with a first-round selection, Span's mind went blank and his eyes teared.
Ray Span reached up and put his arm around his younger brother's neck. The months of blocking out emotions and trying to concentrate on just playing baseball were over and the relief took about five minutes to overcome.
"It was a sigh of relief," Denard said. "All the talk, all the speculation was over with. Everything is written in stone now."
A few minutes later the phone rang and Span talked with Ryan for the first time.
The conversation on Span's end included a "Hello," a "How you doing," six "yessir," an "I'm all right" and four "I appreciate it."
The team vice president and general manager then made a strange request and asked to speak to Span's mother.
"He told me he wanted to surround his team with good people and he was pleased to have Denard be part of their family," Wilson said.
She told Ryan he had made an excellent selection and promised he wouldn't be sorry.