Injuries Hurt Neal’s Chances

A year ago, Rob Neal was deemed the top professional baseball prospect in NCAA Division II, but today he could be washed up at 22.

If that is his fate, Neal, an outfielder who has had two major surgeries on his throwing shoulder, accepts it.

The senior from Westlake High, who has been forced to become a redshirt at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo during rehabilitation, knows the odds have turned against him.

“I’m just like any 22-year-old now--just hoping to get picked up and play minor-league ball,” Neal said.

Neal was labeled a top prospect 12 months ago.

After batting .361 with 10 home runs, 18 doubles and 67 runs batted in his sophomore year, he was dubbed the top prospect in his division by Baseball America magazine. Pro scouts hinted that he would go early in the draft.

Now as he recovers from a second operation by orthopedic surgeon Frank Jobe to tighten a loose right shoulder joint, Neal is fighting to recapture part of what was once well within his grasp: the chance to play for the Mustangs again and a chance to sign a pro contract.

“Emotionally, I’m fine,” he said. “You go with what you’re dealt.”

Neal was dealt a severe blow eight games into his 1993 sophomore season when he collided with a teammate while chasing a fly ball and suffered a separated right shoulder.

After an initial surgery by Jobe, Neal was moved to designated hitter. He re-injured the arm late last season by returning to the outfield too soon.

Neal said he was getting hounded by scouts who needed to evaluate his arm, and he feared getting passed over in the draft.

“I took that as, ‘Hey, I’ve got one shot. I better get out there,’ ” Neal said. “I don’t blame anybody--not myself or the scouts.”

The Minnesota Twins decided to take a chance on him anyway. They had shocked Neal three years earlier by picking him in the 14th round his senior year at Westlake. They told him he had a major-league arm.

Last June, the Twins drafted Neal in the 24th round and arranged for him to play in a summer league in Alaska.

If Neal’s arm improved, they would sign him.

Neal’s bat was a sound as ever. He hit .350 and had 10 home runs against top-flight Division I pitching.

The arm?

“Every time I threw, there was pain,” he said. “I knew after two games it wasn’t going to be ready and they were not going to sign me.”

On Oct. 28, Jobe took a tendon from Neal’s left wrist and sewed it tightly around his patient’s right shoulder. He also repaired cartilage damage. Jobe had tightened existing tendons in the shoulder the year before.

Neal said that is enough surgery to scare away the scouts--permanently. But life goes on.

“Being the top prospect was great, and I liked having that honor,” he said. “But now I’m just focused on getting decent grades. I can only hope for the best in baseball.”

After his last surgery, Neal decided to quit baseball. But his family convinced him to try another comeback.

It is a quiet one. He is almost a forgotten man at Cal Poly, but he wants it that way. Neal lifts weights, goes for therapy and runs regularly. On his jogs, he occasionally stops at the baseball field to see his old teammates.

“Most of the players I’m friends with,” he said. “But I don’t try to keep close contact, because I don’t want them to be thinking about me. I want them to be thinking about winning.”

Defensively, Neal will never be the player he once was. There is no telling at this point whether he’ll ever be able to make a strong throw from the outfield again.

“But if I take it real slow, my gut feeling is it might come back 75% . . . to where I might be a left fielder with an average arm.

“If I hit like I did my sophomore year of college and I did last year in Anchorage, I could get my foot in the door. But I need my arm.”

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Around the country: University of San Francisco outfielder Daryl Hernandez (Simi Valley/Moorpark College) is batting .625 with four doubles in 16 at bats. Pitcher Jason Chandler (Burbank/College of the Canyons) has a 2.08 earned run average. . . .

UC San Diego freshman guard Mark Sebek (Nordhoff) had 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in a 96-80 victory over UC Santa Cruz last week. . . . Westmont freshman center Braden Weber (St. Francis) had 23 points and 13 rebounds, both career highs, in a 77-76 overtime victory over Azusa Pacific. . . . George Mason junior guard G.C. Marcaccini (Notre Dame) had 19 points and 12 rebounds in a 86-82 victory over James Madison last week.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo senior center Suzanne Carey (St. Bonaventure) averages 12 points and 7.7 rebounds and has twice been chosen American West Conference Player of the Week. . . . Army sophomore center Jamie Arundell (Fillmore) had 22 points and 10 rebounds, both season highs, in a 52-49 victory over Navy on Feb. 14. Arundell leads the Cadets in scoring average (11.1 points) and is second in rebounding at 5.2 a game.