Cardinals agree to deal with first-round pick

ST. LOUIS -- Brett Wallace homered twice in his first handful of batting-practice cuts, hardly resembling a nervous prospect.

The former Arizona State infielder, selected with the 13th pick of the first round last month, agreed to a contract Tuesday for a signing bonus of about $1.84 million. He said the experience at Busch Stadium was daunting before Cardinals players talked away his jitters.

"You see Albert Pujols standing out there and he's such a good player, along with a lot of these guys," Wallace said. "The first couple of swings you might want to try a little too hard and impress them maybe, but it was a lot of fun."

The stocky Wallace, 6 foot 1 and 245 pounds, hit .410 with a career best 22 homers and 83 RBIs as a junior. He's the fifth player in Pac-10 history to be selected player of the year in consecutive seasons, and is a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given to the nation's top amateur player.

The 21-year-old leaves today for Class A Quad Cities and begins his career as a third baseman, although he also might be used in left field.

"He has a high ceiling," said Jeffrey Luhnow, vice president of scouting and player development. "He's surprisingly athletic, and he's not going to be a leadoff guy, but he can run, too."

Wallace played third base for the first time in college as a junior after playing first base his sophomore year, and played left field for a U.S. national team last summer.

"He's really come a long way at third base considering he never played it until this year," Luhnow said. "Really, he hasn't had enough time at either one of those positions to fairly evaluate him."

Wallace wasn't worried about using wood bats.

"I think it's just a comfort level," he said. "If you can hit, you can hit."

His brief tour of the Cardinals clubhouse showed him he can belong there, too. Rick Ankiel made it a point to welcome him.

"I think the biggest thing is just realizing they're just people like me," Wallace said. "I was kind of unsure what kind of reaction I'd get, and it was nice for him to help break the ice."

Leaning on feedback from Cardinals players, Wallace said it wasn't wise to set a timetable for reaching the majors.

"I was talking with some of the guys in the clubhouse and that's what they were saying, that you can't look at how you're going to get there the fastest, but how am I going to be prepared when I get there," Wallace said. "I just want to work hard every day and, hopefully, when I get the call it's for good. Not for a week, but forever."