Just
about four years ago now, then-17-year-old Eric Hosmer from Cooper
City, Fla., slipped on his All-American Classic East uniform and
trotted out to play first base at Tony Gwynn Stadium on the San Diego
State University campus.
It
was in August, 2007, that Hosmer played in the Perfect Game
All-American Classic presented by Rawlings (formerly known as the
Aflac All-American Classic), and a lot of good things have happened
to Hosmer since that August night in San Diego.
He
was selected by the Kansas City Royals with the third pick in the
first round of the 2008 MLB First-Year Player Draft, only the fourth
time in the last 34 years a club has used a top-three pick on a high
school corner infielder.
On
May 6, Hosmer made his Major League debut with the Royals after
playing just two full seasons in the minor leagues. On May 11, he hit
his first big league home run off the Yankees’ A.J. Burnett, and In
his first 24 games with the Royals since his call-up from Triple-A
Omaha, Hosmer hit .291 (30-for-103) with five home runs and 17 RBI.
That
call-up also elevated Hosmer, 21, into the membership of a rapidly
growing yet still elite club. He is now one of 40 All-American
Classic alumni who have played in the Major Leagues (as of June 2)
and the first of what is sure to be many more from the 2007 game.
There
are already five alumni from the 2006 All-American Classic in the big
leagues and nine from the 2005 Classic. Eleven big-leaguers played in
the 2004 Classic and fourteen were participants in the inaugural
Classic played in 2003 at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla.
And
these guys haven’t been wallflowers. Quite a few of them have
developed into impact-type players at the Major League level. As an
example, last year’s National League Rookie of the Year voting
turned into a two-horse race between the Giants’ Buster Posey and
the Braves’ Jason Heyward.
Posey,
who played in the 2004 All-American Classic with top prospects like
the Mets’ Ike Davis, the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen, the
Diamondbacks’ Justin Upton and the Rays’ Jeremy Hellickson, won
the award after collecting 20 of 32 first-place votes in balloting
conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Posey
hit .305 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI in 108 games for the World
Series Champion Giants.
Heyward,
an alumnus of the 2006 All-American Classic when he was on the field
at San Diego State with the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner, the Tigers’
Rick Porcello, his Braves teammate Freddie Freeman, and recently
promoted Cubs infielder D.J. LeMahieu, finished second in the voting
with nine first-place votes.
Heyward,
who smacked a home run off the Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano in his first
Major League at-bat in 2010, hit .277 with 18 home runs, 29 doubles
and 72 RBI in 142 games for the Braves. He gave the nation a glimpse
of his potential at the 2006 All-American Classic with two hits, two
RBI, two runs scored and a Classic record four stolen bases.
Davis
finished seventh in the NL ROY voting with two third-place votes and
was named the Most Valuable Player at the 2004 All-American Classic.
The only other of the eight Classic MVPs to play in the big leagues
is the Rockies’ Chris Nelson, the 2003 MVP.
Posey
and Bumgarner teamed up to make a little All-American Classic history
last Oct. 31 when they formed the Giants’ battery in Game 4 of the
World Series in Arlington, Texas, a 4-0 Giants victory. The
left-handed Bumgarner picked up the win after allowing three hits and
striking out six in eight scoreless innings, and Posey, hitting
cleanup, smacked a solo home run in the eighth inning.
The
late Nick Adenhart was the first pitcher to throw a pitch in an
All-American Classic in the inaugural 2003 game. Pitching for the
Angels, he made his 2009 season debut on April 9, threw six scoreless
innings and then was killed in a car accident a couple of hours after
the game.
Here
is a list of all 40 All-American Classic alumni who have graduated to
the Major Leagues:
2003:
Nick
Adenhart
Homer
Bailey
Brad
Emaus
Dexter
Foxler
Luke
French
Greg
Golson
Giovanny
Gonzalez
Javier
Guerra
Eric
Hurley
Chris
Nelson
Troy
Patton
Trevor
Plouffe
Mark
Rogers
Neil
Walker
2004:
Ike
Davis
Cameron
Maybin
Andrew
McCutchen
Buster
Posey
Ryan
Tucker
Justin
Upton
Chris
Volstad
Brett
Wallace
Sean
O'Sullivan
Jeremy
Hellickson
Austin
Jackson
2005:
Hank
Conger
Kyle
Drabek
Jeremy
Jeffress
Ryan
Adams
Brett
Anderson
Chris
Tillman
Cedric
Hunter
Matthew
Latos
Jordan
Walden
2006:
Madison
Bumgarner
Jason
Heyward
Rick
Porcello
Freddie
Freeman
D.J.
LeMahieu
2007:
Eric
Hosmer