Wingate's Trent Picked in MLB Draft
June 9, 2005

Additional Newspaper Article on Matt Trent
By Mark Berman, The Roanoke Times

Courtesy Jeff Nelson, The Enquirer-Journal

Wingate, N.C.----Wingate University senior relief pitcher Matt Trent (Roanoke, Va.) watched a computer for four hours Wednesday, waiting for one of the biggest moments of his life.

When it didn’t come, he got up and left, wondering why the San Francisco Giants kept passing him over in the Major League Baseball first-year player draft. Only two minutes later, Trent heard his mom suddenly scream during a phone call.

“I figured, ‘Either something in the house broke, or I got drafted,’” said Trent, a right-handed closer from Wingate University.

Luckily for Trent (and the house) he had been drafted, but not by the Giants.

With the 30th pick in the 30th round (920th overall), the St. Louis Cardinals selected the 6-foot-2, 220-pound senior, who was surprised and delighted.

“I think the Cardinals will be an awesome fit,” said Trent, who worked out for multiple teams, including the Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla., last week. “I never expected them, so that’s pretty cool. I’m going to have to do some research on them.”

In Asheboro, N.C. preparing for summer league ball, Trent had good reason to suspect he’d be picked by his favorite team, the Giants; after all, that's what a San Francisco scout told him on Monday and again on Wednesday.

“They called me the day before the draft and said, ‘I think you have a great chance of going on (Tuesday) in the first 20 rounds,’ so I got all juiced up,” Trent said. “And yesterday, we were traveling and I had my cell phone on me all day, even when we were taking batting practice.”

“Tuesday night I was disappointed, but then twice Wednesday they called and asked me questions about money and stuff like that, and I told them, ‘Money's not that big of a deal to me.’ I wanted to get picked.”

“So then I kept watching San Francisco, and they kept taking right-handed pitchers, and I was like, “Gosh, man. I don't think they’re going to take me.’”

Trent, who had told friends and family that he wanted to be picked in the top 30 rounds, watched the draft on a computer in the office of his summer league team’s general manager. Once the Giants passed on him in the 30th round, he’d had enough.

Now, he has a future in red.

Trent left Asheboro Thursday. He is heading to his hometown of Roanoke. Trent said he expected to attend a mini-camp for draft picks soon, and then be sent to the Cardinals’ short-season class A team in Augusta, N.J.

Ironically, that will likely put Trent in the same division of the New York-Penn League as his former Wingate teammate, Eric Brown, who was drafted by the Mets in the 18th round Tuesday.

A right-handed starting pitcher, Brown will probably be assigned to the Brooklyn Cyclones, who start their season June 21 and play the New Jersey Cardinals as soon as June 27.

While Trent and Brown wait to hear from their organizations (which should contact them once all 50 rounds are complete), the two minor-league bound pitchers can sympathize with each other’s draft day stories, because Brown also missed his big moment.

A Mets scout had told Brown on Tuesday that the draft would end at 6 p.m. Once that time passed, Brown turned off his cell phone and headed to practice with his Massachusetts summer league team.

Because he didn’t have access to the Internet, Brown didn't know the draft actually lasted until 8 p.m. Brown was selected around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday.

“After practice, I turned (my cell phone on) and had 35 missed calls,” Brown said. “And I called my mom and she told me, too.”

Brown and Trent talked Tuesday night, with Brown accepting congratulations and Trent accepting reassurance that Wednesday would be his day.

And after an agonizing wait, it was.