Today one phone call could make dreams come true for three Duke baseball players.
Seniors Ryan Jackson and Sean McNally and junior Scott Pinoni are expected to be drafted in today's Major League Baseball amateur draft. If so, they will join seven Blue Devils who are already a part of the professional ranks.
Duke has had a total of 20 players selected in the draft.
"I feel [Jackson and McNally] will both definitely be drafted," head coach Steve Traylor said. "There's been a lot of interest expressed in those two guys. I've been singing their praises for four years to the scouts because I know they're great players and the kind of players that everybody would want in their organization. They'll both be very successful at the next level.
"It will be interesting to see about Pinoni, with the kind of year he had -- if he's drafted, where he's drafted, whether he'll opt to sign -- because he's a major cog in our offense that should be back here next year."
For Jackson, this year's ACC player of the year and Collegiate Baseball national player of the year, draft day should redeem the disappointment he felt last season after going undrafted.
"Last year, I really didn't know where I stood all along," Jackson said. "I was in a situation where I didn't even know if I was going to be drafted. I was told that I would be drafted, but there was still a question mark there. This year, I really don't feel like there's a question."
Because the possibility of not being drafted is gone, Jackson will be more relaxed waiting for his draft-day call.
"I'll be much more confident," Jackson said. "Granted I could be disappointed on what round I'm taken in, but at this point it doesn't really matter like it did last year.
"It doesn't really matter because I'm going to get the chance to play now and that's all that I was hoping for all along."
McNally raised his stock in the draft with an amazing senior season. The third baseman was Duke's most productive offensive player, hitting .408 with 15 home runs and 71 RBI.
"This year was make-or-break on if I would keep playing," McNally said. "I needed to have this type of year to have this draft potential."
Ever since he was young, McNally has been a fan of the Boston Red Sox. He even had a chance to attend a pre-draft workout at Fenway Park, knocking a couple balls over the famed Green Monster.
Before that workout, McNally found an old school assignment that he hopes will be prophetic.
"I had an autobiography I had to write in sixth grade," McNally said. "My future was to be an infielder for the Boston Red Sox."
Unlike Jackson and McNally, Pinoni will have to make the decision on whether he wants to turn professional early or go back to school.
"I'd like to see [Pinoni] come back and do what [former Blue Devil] Quinton McCracken did two years ago," Traylor said. "He came back for his senior year and had an All-American year and was drafted. Ryan Jackson came back for his senior year and had an All-American type year and will be drafted. So we'd like to see him come back next year and be a dominant player for us."
Pinoni said the right offer from the pros would convince him to skip his senior year. But right now, he's not predicting anything about today's draft.
"After watching what happened to Jackson, I'm really not expecting to go," Pinoni said. "Right now, I'm just planning on coming back to school."
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