Mooney grad Vazquez optimistic about MLB draft

June 9, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

Four years ago, Cardinal Mooney High graduate Boo Vazquez turned down a chance to play professional baseball because he felt like he wasn’t ready.

No matter what happens with this week’s Major League Baseball draft, he knows he made the right decision.

“Regardless of what happens, I’m happy with the decision I made,” said Vazquez, a four-year starter in the outfield for Pitt’s baseball team. “If I’m fortunate enough to get picked, I feel like I’m ready to take on everything professional baseball has to offer.”

Vazquez (6-4, 220) batted .285 in 38 games (35 starts) for Pitt this season, tying for second on the team in home runs (5) and RBIs (27) despite missing 14 games with mono. Vazquez was sick for the team’s three-game road trip to Myrtle Beach in late February, and the symptoms grew steadily worse during a trip that included two 12-hour bus rides and three games in cold, rainy weather.

“We drove back overnight after the last game and I had to go straight to an 8 o’clock class,” he said. “It was one of those things where I was sick and I reached the point of exhaustion on the long trip, so I was really susceptible.”

Vazquez sat out from March 1-24, returning as a pinch-hitter against Youngstown State on March 25. Vazquez finished the regular season by going 6-for-12 in a three-game series against Virginia Tech and became the 13th Panther to amass 200 hits, 100 runs and 100 RBIs in his career.

“Once I came back and started feeling better, I got on a roll,” he said. “I started hitting the ball really well, although some weekends I didn’t have anything to show for it, and I felt like I showed what I could do. I’m very happy with how I played. I did everything I could and was playing my best baseball.”

Vazquez moved to Youngstown from Orlando, Fla., in the eighth grade and developed into one of Ohio’s best prospects by his senior year. But after getting picked in the 38th round by the Colorado Rockies, Vazquez chose to play at Pitt, where he batted .327 as a freshman (.841 OPS) and .337 as a sophomore (.871 OPS).

But his batting average dropped to .261 last season, although he still led the Panthers with six home runs and 39 RBIs, and went undrafted, despite rumors that he could have been selected in the top 15 rounds. (The baseball draft lasts 50 rounds.)

“Last year it just didn’t work like I expected it to,” he said. “I probably would rather have been drafted last year, but my stock fell. I got some calls [late in the draft] that weren’t right for me. It was a situation where they called and said, ‘Would you sign for this much in this situation?’ and I was like, ‘Probably not.’”

Instead, Vazquez spent the summer playing for the St. Cloud Rox of the Northwoods League, a top college league based in the upper Midwest (mostly Minnesota and Wisconsin), and spent his senior year at Pitt working toward his economics degree.

“I have one semester left, but it’s not a full semester of credits,” he said. “It was really tough doing that [earning his degree] and playing summer ball because I couldn’t take summer classes.”

Vazquez watched the first day of last year’s draft on TV and followed the second day online before turning it off, but he mostly plans to avoid it this year.

“It’s pretty stressful, so I’ll just keep busy and keep my phone on,” said Vazquez, who said he had a handful of strong workouts with MLB teams in recent days. “The draft is funny, unpredictable. But I feel OK because I think I put myself in the best position I could. I let it all hang out and did whatever I could possibly do, so that’s comforting.

“Whatever happens, happens. I don’t regret anything I did.”