Friday, June 10, 2005
Draft goes just as Trent hoped
Two years after having Tommy John surgery, the Cave Spring graduate is picked by the Cardinals.
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This is a story about a member of the Cave Spring baseball team that won the 2001 Roanoke Valley District crown.
No, not Tyler Lumsden. No, not Tom Hagan.
This is about an ex-Knight you might not remember - Matt Trent.
Trent, an outfielder on that team, was turned into a pitcher at Division II Wingate (N.C.) University. His career was dealt a blow when he had to undergo Tommy John surgery in 2003. He tried coming back in 2004 but made only two appearances and had a 54.00 ERA.
Trent fared much better this year, and on Wednesday, he was chosen by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 30th round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft.
"I'm really excited," Trent said Thursday. "After all the rehab and being in the training room at school every day for two years, it finally paid off.
"It ended up working out and I'm just really grateful."
Unlike Lumsden, who signed with Clemson, and Hagan, who became a football and baseball player at UVa, Trent didn't receive any scholarship offers while at Cave Spring. He joined Wingate as a recruited walk-on. Randy Boone, then Cave Spring's coach, recommended Trent to his former college coach - Wingate's Bill Nash.
Trent tried to make a splash during Wingate's fall practice in 2001.
"I found out I couldn't hit," Trent said.
Nash liked his arm, however. Trent had pitched sparingly for Cave Spring, so Nash tried him on the mound. Trent developed elbow trouble, though, and was redshirted for the 2002 season.
Trent did well as a reliever in 2003, going 4-4 with four saves and a 2.67 ERA in 17 appearances. The right-hander struck out 36 batters and walked nine in 27 innings. But he tore the medial collateral ligament in his right elbow. In May of that year, the ligament was replaced during Tommy John surgery, the procedure named after the former major-league pitcher who once underwent that operation.
The recovery was slow, and a frustrated Trent once considered quitting. Nash tried Trent on the mound twice in the 2004 season, but Trent lasted a total of one inning. He threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked four and allowed six runs.
"Physically, I was kind of OK," he said. "Mentally, I wasn't ready. I was afraid. I was holding back. ... I just had no idea where the ball was going."
Trent, who is 6-foot-2 and weighs 220 pounds, was much more effective this year. He was 2-2 with seven saves and a 4.68 ERA in 23 appearances. The fourth-year junior had 39 strikeouts and 15 walks in 25 innings.
"I started gaining more velocity," he said. "My arm got in shape ... and my slider developed a little better. I had kind of been afraid to throw it earlier on after the surgery, because it puts a little bit more stress on your arm."
"He was very, very diligent about his rehab work and his workouts ... and you could just see it starting [to develop] - the location and the confidence and the command," Nash said.
Trent, who graduated last month, throws his fastball 91-93 mph. The Cardinals invited him to a workout in Jupiter, Fla., in late May, and were impressed enough to take him on the second and final day of the 50-round draft. They want to use him out of the bullpen and will either send him to their Class A team in Skyland, N.J., or their rookie-league team in Johnson City, Tenn., which is an Appalachian League rival of the Pulaski Blue Jays.
"He's got a really strong arm," St. Louis scout Mike Shildt said. "He's got a solid, average major-league fastball and he's got the ability to throw a breaking ball for a strike."
Trent played for the Roanoke team that reached the 2000 Big League Baseball World Series - as did two others who wound up getting drafted. Lumsden was drafted out of high school by Florida in the fifth round in 2001 and was drafted out of Clemson by the Chicago White Sox as a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds in 2004. William Byrd graduate Nick Jones was drafted out of Virginia Commonwealth by the Chicago Cubs in the 11th round in 2003.
