Cardinals stick to their draft plan -- sort of

ST. LOUIS -- For at least one pick Tuesday, the Cardinals stuck to their pre-draft strategy of concentrating on position players.

The Cardinals selected left-handed hitting catcher Daric Barton of Marina High School in Huntington Beach, Calif., the retirement home of Mark McGwire, with the 28th overall pick. Ten of the team's previous 14 first-rounders since 1991 had been pitchers.

Catching also was an area of need throughout the system, and they drafted a total of four on the first day, which encompassed 20 rounds. Barton, 17, was the first catcher the Cardinals took in the first round since Terry Kennedy in 1977; the only other catcher they've taken in the first round was Ted Simmons in 1967.

Maier compared Barton with Simmons and Darrell Porter, catchers who could hit. Barton, who is 5-11 and 195 pounds, batted .372 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs in 78 at-bats with eight steals.

"I like this guys' bat, and he happens to be a catcher," Maier said. "I hope he's as good as those guys."

Back to pitching

But in the next three rounds, the Cardinals went back to pitching. In the second round, the they took 6-7, 230-pound Stuart Pomeranz, a right-handed pitcher from Houston High School in Collierville, Tenn., who had an almost unreal 0.11 ERA.

In the third round they took right-handed pitcher Dennis Dove of Georgia Southern, and in the fourth they took right-handed pitcher Mark Michael of the University of Delaware.

"We're not re-stocking, we're taking the best guys," Maier said. "As this draft goes on we'll probably get more regular players, but right now you can't be drafting by position because you're looking at the best players in the country and you want to put them on the board the way you think they can help us here."

Barton has signed a letter of intent to attend Cal State-Fullerton, but the Cardinals are confident they can sign him.

"We know this guy wants to play pro baseball," Maier said. "I've talked to him already, and we'll come to an agreement somewhere down the line."

Barton played third baseman his senior year because the coach's son played catcher, but he's played catcher his whole life. He'll likely start his career at Johnson City, Tenn., in the rookie league.

Taking a chance

The Cardinals are adverse to taking high school pitchers, but they took one anyway in Pomeranz, a power pitcher who was 9-0 with two saves in 12 games. In 63 innings, he gave up 15 hits with nine walks and 118 strikeouts.

"He's risky as a high school pitcher, but we just felt he was better than the other guys on the board," Maier said. "We loved this guy all year."

Maier believes Dove has a chance to be a member of the rotation "down the line." He was 7-2 with a 4.52 ERA in 17 games with 118 strikeouts in 94 innings.

"He's got great stuff," Maier said. "When I saw this guy I thought he'd probably end up going higher, but he got to us."

Michael was an infielder before last season when he pitched full-time for the first time. He'll need to work on mechanics. Maier said Michael reminded him in body type of former Cardinals closer Todd Worrell.

In the fifth round, the Cardinals took catcher Brandon Yarbrough of Richmond High School in Ellerbe, N.C., and in the sixth round they selected right-handed pitcher Matt Weagle of Franklin Pierce Community College in New Hampshire.

St. Louis' eighth-round pick, catcher Matthew Pagnozzi of Central Arizona College, is the nephew of former Cardinals catcher Tom Pagnozzi.

In all the Cardinals picked 10 pitchers on the first day, all but one of them right-handers.

In addition to the four catchers they chose two shortstops, three outfielders and one third baseman.

The 50-round draft concludes today.