ST. LOUIS — When Nolan Sparks was graduating from high school in Colorado, he narrowed his college choice down to either the University of California at Berkeley or the University of Rochester.
Academics was the driving factor in his decision, but he also wanted to play baseball. If Sparks had gone to Cal, he would have been a student only, so he picked Rochester – and walked on to the D3 school’s baseball team as a freshman.
Four years later, Sparks’ decision was validated on Tuesday when the 5-foot, 10-inch righthanded pitcher was selected by the Cardinals on the third day of the major-league draft.
“My assistant saw him in Arizona and he told me, ‘This kid keeps bothering me. He really likes Rochester but he throws 81-82, and might hit 83,’” Rochester coach Joe Reina said on Tuesday. “That was a little short for us, but he had the grades. We went back and forth and we said, ‘If you want to come to Rochester you are going to have to try to make it as a walk-on.’”
Said Sparks, “It was definitely a challenge I accepted.”
Sparks made the team and is his first college game as a freshman, he threw a seven-inning shutout over Cortland State, at the time a top 10 team in the country. He only allowed two hits, walked one and struck out eight.
That was the start of a collegiate career that saw Sparks find success not only on the baseball field but in the classroom.
Sparks was a double major at Rochester, studying neuroscience and business, graduating with a 3.92 GPA.
“There is not anything you can tell Nolan that he can’t do,” Reina said. “His tenacity, his drive, it’s just at another level. It’s like that when he was in the classroom. When you have someone like that and is driven by wanting to be successful, this is his goal. In terms of makeup that’s a pretty special kid. “
Sparks also had to prove himself because he is not an ideal size for a righthanded pitcher.
“That’s kind of been the story of my life, trying to maximize every ounce of my body in every throw,” Sparks said.
Reina said that through all of Sparks’ work in the weight room and improving his mechanics, he now throws in the mid 90s with an excellent slider.
“The tools had to get to where his mental piece was and they got to where they needed to be to get him to this place (being drafted),” Reina said. “He’s got an electric arm. I still think there’s more in there. His fastball plays really well. When his slider is on, it’s as good as anything I’ve seen.”
The Cardinals selected Sparks in the 13th round, their third of 10 day 3 picks.
“When you start to get to this spot of the draft you are really listening to your scouts and who they like,” said Randy Flores, assistant general manager and scouting director. “It’s a credit to our scouting department for tagging him.”
As a senior this year, Sparks went 4-2 with a 2.25 ERA in 10 starts. In 60 innings, he struck out 80 and only walked 19 batters. Over his four years at Rochester, Sparks was 19-5 with 248 strikeouts in 209 innings.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” Sparks said of being drafted. “At first, getting to college baseball was the dream. Once I got there and was playing I was just trying to get better and better. Once I found out there might be a small little chance of getting into pro ball, I just kept working my tail off and now we’re here.”
Before learning that he had been drafted by the Cardinals, Sparks was planning on going to Boston College this fall to work on a master’s degree in finance and play a fifth year of college baseball.
Those plans are now on hold after the Cardinals scouts found him in upstate New York at a school of less than 8,000 students.
“They’ll find you, and they did with Nolan,” Reina said. “I thought how he finished our postseason this year, he was as good as I’ve ever seen at this level. I’m just really excited for him.”
Sparks was one of nine players, out of the Cardinals’ 19 selections in this year’s draft, who are under 6 feet. Four of the nine are pitchers.
“If you look at them they are not under 6 feet and throwing 85 to 88,” Flores said. “There’s some good stuff and not just in velocity. … When you are looking for value, looking for opportunity, we’ve had tall players come into their own later, but there are also players who aren’t exactly 6 foot 4 but have tremendous arm speed or move well or their angle and the way their ball plays over the plate affords us a nice chance to grab something of value.
“We’re definitely excited to have them in our organization.”
For the third year in a row, the Cardinals only chose one high school player. Neither of the selections the last two years, both picked in the 20th round, signed with the team. This year the Cardinals took shortstop Brendan Lawson, out of Canada, in the 19th round. He posted on Twitter on Tuesday that he was going to honor his commitment to Florida.
Three players from the St. Louis area were selected on Tuesday. In the 11th round, Seattle took righthanded pitcher Christian Little from LSU, a CBC product, and Atlanta drafted outfielder Patrick Clohlsey from Saint Louis University.
Another Saint Louis U. player, righthander Evan Gray, was selected by the Giants in the 15th round.
Here is the list of the Cardinals’ day three selections:
Round 11 – Jon Jon Gazdar, shortstop, Austin Peay University
Round 12 – Ian Petrutz, outfielder, Alabama
Round 13 – Nolan Sparks, righthanded pitcher, University of Rochester
Round 14 – Mason Burns, righthanded pitcher, Western Kentucky
Round 15 – Sam Brodersen, righthanded pitcher, Louisiana Tech
Round 16 – Deniel Ortiz, third baseman, Walters State (Tenn.) Community College
Round 17 – Brandt Thompson, righthanded pitcher, Missouri State
Round 18 – Christian Martin, shortstop, Virginia Tech
Round 19 – Brendan Lawson, shortstop, P27 Academy
Round 20 – Owen Rice, lefthanded pitcher, Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Photo of Nolan Sparks courtesy of University of Rochester athletics
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains