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Span, Dukes earn strong grades at regional scouting event.
By FRANK PASTOR
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 9, 2001
TAMPA -- Tampa Catholic's Denard Span and Hillsborough's Elijah Dukes were rated among the top five prospects at the East Cost Professional Baseball Showcase Thursday through Saturday in Wilmington, N.C.
About 150 high school players from the eastern and midwestern United States -- many who are eligible for the June draft -- attended the invitation-only showcase.
Span, a 6-foot, 170-pound outfielder who helped Tampa Catholic to the Class 3A state championship in May, ranked third.
His time of 6.7 seconds in the 60-yard dash was third-fastest. He hit five batting-practice homerss.
"I don't recall seeing too many 170-pound hitters with his kind of pop in the past," Anup Sinha wrote on Team One Baseball's Web site. "Did Barry Bonds look a little bit like this when he was 17?
"Span, of course, has a long way to go before comparisons like that, but he is looking every bit like an early pick next June."
Dukes, a 6-3, 222-pound outfielder, ranked fifth. The top-rated player at last month's Team One East showcase, he is considered a five-tool prospect.
"He has light-tower power, comparable to anyone in the country," wrote Sinha, who attends hundreds of games and workouts year-round. "Yet, he showed the ability to tone down his swing and even dumped a couple of opposite-field singles.
"Dukes took a lot of walks, too. There aren't too many hitters in high school with that combination of raw power and discipline."