Colleges

Steady star heads list of area draft prospects

Burgess maintains his poise and perspective.

By JOEY KNIGHT
Published June 6, 2007

Hillsborough pitcher Michael Burgess (eyes closed) receives a hug from head coach Pat Russo after defeating Durant in the championship game of the Saladino Baseball Tournament at the University of Tampa in 2006.
	[Times photo: Brian Cassella]

TAMPA - His high school pregame ritual was more calorific than quirky.

Before every Hillsborough baseball game, Terriers centerfielder Michael Burgess would make the half-mile trek to Nicko's Fine Foods, a gastronomical Greek/American landmark on Florida Avenue. His order, like his game-day temperament, never wavered.

Apple pie with whipped cream, glass of water.

"I've been going there almost two years," the Arizona State signee said.

You're not likely to find anything dubious beneath Burgess' crust. At a time when other Terriers baseball alumni (i.e. Dwight Gooden, Elijah Dukes) pelt society with cautionary tales, Burgess provides little more than a confectionary one.

It could sweeten Thursday, when Burgess could be the first local player selected in Major League Baseball's first-year player draft. But unlike several ex-Terriers before him, Burgess' maintenance figures to be as low as his upside appears high.

Whereas Gary Sheffield has his outspokenness, Dukes has his combustion, Gooden has his demons and Carl Everett has a little of each, Burgess seems to possess nary a fossil in his proverbial closet.

"His character is perfect to be a star," longtime friend and Hillsborough teammate Marco LaMonte said.

Terriers coach Ken White is even more succinct: "He's just pure class."

And purely baseball. An outside candidate to become his high school's eighth first-round draftee, Burgess is both a five-tool prospect and one-sport star.

Spawned from the Sulphur Springs (now North Seminole) Little League, Burgess was named Aflac National High School Player of the Year after his junior season, when he hit better than .500 with 12 home runs and 24 stolen bases.

The last of those home runs sailed over the 60-foot wall at Sarasota's Ed Smith Stadium, an obstacle previously cleared by only Bo Jackson and Frank Thomas. But arguably his greatest attribute was revealed his senior year, when teams stopped pitching to him.

Burgess drew 29 walks in 26 games, hitting .338. When he tweaked his stance to widen his strike zone, the results were nominal. Burgess hit only three home runs, prompting some scouts to question his ability to make consistent contact.

But any frustration was masked by the trademark stoicism he says was forged primarily by his mother, Temeka Watson; and paternal grandfather, Sylvester Burgess.

Their message: "Never show frustration on the field," Burgess said. "It's embarrassing."

"Early on in the year, when he was getting so many walks, I talked to him about it, and he was like, 'Hey I'll just steal second and third and try to score.' That's what he did," White added.

"I just gave him the green light most of the year to get him in scoring position for most of the other guys."

In vintage Burgess character, he has nothing extravagant planned for draft day. He'll follow the proceedings from his east Tampa home, maybe take his pit bulls, Z and Sampson, for a walk, and sweat nothing.

On a day when the life of he and his family could be transformed, Burgess' personality won't be.

"I don't think," LaMonte said, "that Michael would ever change."

Joey Knight can be reached at (813) 226-3350 or jknight@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 6, 2007, 01:43:51]