WVU first baseman hopes third time is charm in MLB draft

MORGANTOWN - Joe Agreste is, like many others, expecting to bedrafted into Major League Baseball this week. He's also among thelarge group of players who have been drafted before as well as theslightly more exclusive club that has been drafted twice.

"There are about 1,500 players drafted every year and there's alot of talent out there," Agreste said Wednesday from his home inChesapeake, Va. "If you're one of those who do get drafted, you haveto look at it as a privilege."

That said, the fact that West Virginia's junior first basemanwasn't drafted a third time is what stands out.

"Actually," Agreste said, "to a point, that was prettysurprising."

The First-Year Player Draft begins at 2 p.m. today and concludestomorrow. Agreste, senior shortstop Tyler Kuhn and junior right-handed pitcher Josh Whitlock could also be drafted.

"Those kids are going to have very promising careers," Agrestesaid.

His opinion comes from his familiarity with the draft. Agrestewas picked out of Greenbriar Christian High - where he was a three-time All-American - in the 38th round by the Seattle Mariners in2005. Agreste opted for Potomac State and was named first-team all-region and all-eastern district in 2006. The Mariners chose Agresteagain, this time in the 32nd round, and he declined again.

"Getting drafted out of high school was awesome," he said. "Itwas everything you ever dreamed of. Growing up, you want to play probaseball and there's your chance right in front of you. Saying nowas probably the smartest decision I ever made and I did it twice. Ijust wasn't mature enough. I would have probably gone to the leagueand been absolutely - well, I don't know what would have happened."

Agreste returned to Potomac State, played his second season andsigned to play at WVU. Agreste believes that decision was part ofwhat conspired to keep him out of the draft last year.

Even that turned out to be a positive.

"I just used it as motivation," he said. "I'm not going to lie.That really bothered me. But at the same time, I'm kind of used topeople talking down to me and not believing in me. It was the sameway back in high school."

Agreste was the state's player of the year as a senior and hadthe approval of Major League scouts, but people in his home stateweren't convinced.

"I'll throw Radford out there," he said. "Radford (Va.)University told me I wasn't good enough to play Division I baseballcoming out of high school. That motivated me to go to Potomac Stateand prove myself. Maybe I wasn't mature enough or good enough toplay DI and to play professionally back then, but I believed I'd begood enough eventually."

The 6-foot-4, 195-pound lefty batted .369 with six home runs, 45RBI, 15 doubles, six triples and a .620 slugging percentage thispast season. Agreste committed only five errors in 403 totalchances.

He said he's targeted a general area where he'd like to bedrafted, but wouldn't say what that is. Agreste hasn't decidedwhether he'll stay or go, either, but he is certain he's ready ifeverything turns out to his liking.

"I really do because I went out and put up better numbers everysingle year I played," he said. "Every year I got physically better.Mentally, I deal with failure much better now. You're going to dealwith failure seven times out of 10, but you have to be able toadjust. I've learned to adjust quicker and I'm mature enough now todeal with it all."

Contact sportswriter Mike Casazza at mikec@dailymail.com or 319-1142.