BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
Even before Edinburg North coach Damian Gonzalez had seen Saul Garza play, he knew he had something special on his hands.
“He would come with his older brother after practice, Sam Garza,” Gonzalez said. “Saul would come and take batting practice as an eighth grader after our workouts. I remember looking at him and saying, ‘Dang, man, this kid has a sweet swing. He’s big. He’s strong.’ So I had never actually seen him play until he got to our campus and he started right away as a freshman.”
Garza had a good foundation. Both his brothers played baseball. His dad pitched at UT-Pan American. Garza said he’s been playing baseball as long as he can remember.
The eighth grader that Gonzalez saw was about 6-foot-1, but Garza kept growing and developing. Now, the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder is earning the attention of a lot of major league teams ahead of the MLB draft.
The draft starts at 6 p.m. tonight with rounds 1 and 2. Rounds 3-10 will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday and the final 30 rounds get going at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
“I was blessed with the ability,” Garza said. “And I have worked hard over the years to get better.”
Garza has the same dream all the time. It involves buttoning the top button on the jersey and pulling down the cap to the perfect height as he steps out onto a Major League Baseball field.
That dream has already come true, kind of. Growing up, Garza and his family loved taking trips to see MLB games. Garza has been to Globe Life Park in Arlington, Minute Maid Park in Houston, Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay and Camden Yards in Baltimore.
On Wednesday, he got the chance to play on one of those fields. The Houston Astros invited Garza to work out at Minute Maid Park as part of a pre-draft workout.
“It was a dream come true,” Garza said. “I grew up watching games at that stadium, on TV and in person. To be working out there was unbelievable.”
Garza has had seven workouts with MLB teams. He’s been seen by scouts from even more teams. Scouts showing up to see Garza was such a common occurrence that Gonzalez said it became a part of the normal game day routine.
“The Rays have been at almost every single game,” Gonzalez said. “I think they knew our schedule better than I did.”
This past year has been the apex of the scouting circuit for Garza. Garza played for the Houston Banditos last summer and attended several notable national scouting events, one of which was a tournament in Jupiter, Florida.
“He did really well out there,” Gonzalez said. “He was hitting balls all over the place, and at the end of that first night, I got calls, ‘Hey, where has this kid been hiding?’ ‘Who is this Saul Garza?’ And this and that. There were something like 200-250 scouts out there. That’s really what got him going.”
“Being around all these players, really good players, it was very important for me,” Garza added. “I tried to watch the best players and learn from them, make myself a better player. … I think all 30 teams were there, but I just tried to focus and play my game, and it worked out well.”
Garza has gotten attention beyond the pro ranks. Schools like the University of Texas, Texas A&M and Stephen F. Austin have all shown interest. Garza is committed to Howard Junior College, but he says he is looking into other options for college.
For Garza and his family, the program offered by the MLB that allows teams to reimburse new draft picks for tuition is a very appealing option. Garza takes his education seriously. He graduated in the top 15 in his class. He was a pre-engineering student. Garza wants to make sure that whatever he does, he is able to provide for himself and his family. Not just through his 20s and 30s, but for the rest of his life.
Several draft sites have him listed as a top prospect in the state of Texas. He has been projected as high as Round 3 in the draft. Garza could get one step closer to realizing that reoccurring dream this week.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to hear my name get called (at the draft),” Garza said. “If it were to happen, that would truly be a dream come true, but I know it would also be the beginning of another difficult chapter of my life, and I am ready for that.”