Nevada coach blasts KC Royals for signing junior

RENO, Nev. (AP) The veteran baseball coach at the University of Nevada is criticizing the Kansas City Royals for signing one of his junior pitchers to a major league contract, saying they are ignoring his best interests.

Gary Powers, in his 20th year at Nevada, said he was ``real angry and disappointed'' to learn the Royals signed J.T. Sherman, a starting pitcher who went unpicked in last week's 50-round major league amateur draft.

The school announced Monday Sherman had signed as a free agent and would skip his senior year at Nevada.

``That's the first time I've ever had a major league organization go into a junior's house after not drafting that player, offer him relatively nothing and then sign him like that,'' Powers said.

``I don't think they acted in the best interest of the kid,'' he told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

An official for the major league team defended the signing.

``He is a 22-year-old who obviously made a decision that this is the direction he wants to go,'' said Deric Ladnier, senior director of scouting for the Royals.

``Under no circumstances did we pressure him to sign a contract and he'll always be entitled to go back to school,'' he said Tuesday from Kansas City.

``Obviously we had interest in him as a player. Being a non-drafted player, he was given an opportunity to go pitch professionally and it's obviously something he wanted to do,'' Ladnier said.

Sherman, a 1999 graduate of Durango High School in Las Vegas, could not be immediately reached for comment. He was 8-5 last season with a 5.11 earned run average in 17 starts. He led the team with 111 innings pitched and three complete games and tied for the lead with 79 strikeouts.

Powers said he's angry with the Royals, not Sherman.

``If they wanted him that badly, they could have drafted him,'' Powers said. ``What they did, I feel, is very unprofessional. They should have allowed him to finish his senior year and get his degree.''

``I'm sure he just felt he needed to get his career going. He's been in college four years (after redshirting in 2002 with Nevada). I guess he felt he might not get another chance.''

No details on Sherman's signing bonus were released. Ladnier declined to comment on the contract.

Sherman was drafted after his senior season at Durango by the Texas Rangers in 1999 and after his freshman season in 2000 at Dixie College in St. George, Utah by the Florida Marlins. Both of those times he chose to stay in school.

``He certainly wouldn't have gotten less money next year,'' Powers said.

Powers said the Sherman situation is evidence that the relationship between professional scouts and college programs remains strained.

``As long as major league organizations and scouts act like that, there will always be bad blood between colleges and professional baseball,'' he said.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)