University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Draft Stocks Fall World Series Squads
October 9, 2006 | Baseball
Oct. 9, 2006
By Adam Lucas
"Hey, does anybody know how to spell `krieg?'"
With that question from senior Matt Danford, the first-ever Carolina baseball Fall World Series draft began.
After receiving some blank looks to his query, Danford further explained, "You know, like a blitzkrieg."
Oh, that "krieg."
It made perfect sense to the senior righthander. For the first time ever, the two teams for the Fall World Series were decided by a player-led draft. Danford and Joe Pietropaoli were named captains for one squad; Robert Woodard and Bryan Steed captained the other team.
The first order of business when the 2007 Diamond Heels assembled in the first-base dugout at Boshamer Stadium was the announcement of team names. The Woodard/Steed team went with "Blue Steel." Danford and Pietropaoli, in an homage to strength and conditioning coach Greg Gatz, chose "Gatzkrieg."
"Danford called me when I was on the way to class with that name," Pietropaoli said. "He was really excited about it."
Woodard and Steed arrived with three sheets of paper, one of them meticulously printed on a computer, listing their draft board. The Blue Steel braintrust, meanwhile, decided they needed a piece of paper at 2:17--the draft was slated to begin at 2:15.
Mike Fox, who named himself commissioner, spent a few minutes reviewing the draft rules. Teams had just one minute to make each selection. The coaching staff had already paired every player on the roster with another Tar Heel. When one team chose a particular player, the other team would automatically receive the other half of the pair.
To use an example from the past, it's easy to imagine Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard being paired together. If Blue Steel picked Miller, Gatzkrieg would automatically receive Bard and then would be on the clock for the next selection.
Gatzkrieg won a coin flip and received the first pick, which they used to select shortstop Josh Horton. It was not an entirely unexpected selection, although Horton had some nervous moments before the all-important draft.
"I didn't sleep much last night," he said. "And once I got here I realized I didn't have a speech prepared or anything."
Fortunately, he didn't have to step to the podium to exchange handshakes with the commissioner. As soon as his name was announced, Commissioner Fox informed the squad Horton's pair was Chad Flack, who went to Blue Steel.
That was a fairly predictable pairing. But the next duo was the first unexpected twist of the day. Following their draft strategy of searching for versatility plus placing a premium on strong hitters, Blue Steel picked Tim Federowicz. A logical pair might have been Benji Johnson. But the crafty commissioner's office had paired Federowicz with ace closer Andrew Carignan.
It took less than 30 minutes to finish the selections, which were fraught with tension. Sometimes, team captains discussed their possible choices behind their gloves, like pitchers discussing pitch selection with the pitching coach on the mound during a crucial ACC game. Other times, when choices were more obvious, it didn't take any discussion at all. At one point, Steed was shouting Blue Steel's picks the split second Gatzkrieg announced their pick.
After just four rounds of the draft, Steed provided this analysis to his teammates: "We're stacking up!"
Everyone was available, including the coaching staff and equipment managers. In perhaps the most fitting selection of the day, manager Tyson Lusk barely even noticed that he was picked because he was too busy operating the one-minute stopwatch that clocked all picks. Chad Holbrook was the first coach selected, prompting him to make an immediate comparison to Sam Bowie and Mario Williams.
All teams are subject to Monday night review by the commissioner's office, which has a program-imposed limit of three possible "trades" between the teams. One potential trade scenario involved Reid Fronk, which was vehemently protested by Gatzkrieg. As Danford explained, "We have to be on the same team. I've only gotten him out three times in the last three years."
The best-of-5 Fall World Series begins Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium. Fans are invited to attend all games, including Saturday's contest that will begin immediately after the football game against South Florida.
Adam Lucas's third book on Carolina basketball, The Best Game Ever, chronicles the 1957 national championship season and is available now. His previous books include Going Home Again, focusing on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.
