Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Enochs WVU's Only Baseball First Rounder 22 Years Ago
June 03, 2019 03:22 PM | Baseball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It's been 22 years since West Virginia University has had a player go in the first round of the Major League Draft, but that is is likely to change tonight as junior pitcher Alek Manoah expects to hear his named called.Some mock drafts are projecting Manoah to be taken No. 11 overall by the Toronto Blue Jays as the best righthander in this year's draft, which, ironically, is where Chris Enochs was taken in the 1997 draft by the Oakland A's.
Enochs spent nine years in professional baseball pitching in the A's, Astros and Pirates organizations, reaching Triple-A during his final four seasons in pro ball from 2002-05.
Shoulder issues in his second professional season in 1998 essentially derailed Enochs' pitching career.
"I went to A-ball after I signed coming out of WVU, and I was the only kid in my draft class to start out the following year in Double-A, and I got injured and wasn't the same for probably two, two and a half years," Enochs recalled late last week from his home in Chester, West Virginia, where he works as the director for supplemental services for the Hancock County School system. "I kept trying to come back and just wasn't completely right and two and a half years later it was a little bit more difficult. I went from being a first-round pick to the old first-round pick, and they had three or four other ones since I signed, but hey, that's how it goes."
Much like Manoah this year, Enochs really blossomed between his sophomore and junior seasons after pitching in the Cape Cod League. It was during that time period that Enochs developed a couple of pitches to supplement his plus-fastball.
It was about midway through his junior year at West Virginia in 1997 when Enochs began to realize that he was pitching his way toward the top of organizational draft boards.
"I did go to the Cape between my sophomore and junior year and that gave me some exposure and I knew I would be in the conversation, but I had no idea I was going to be a first rounder until halfway through my junior year. I started seeing more and more scouts at games, and they were talking to me more often after games," he said.
Enochs rode the momentum he generated from a 12-win season that saw him become a first team All-American into a possible late first-round pick, to a mid-first round pick to where he eventually landed at No. 11.
The A's had two first round choices that year and used their second pick to take Mississippi State lefthanded pitcher Eric DuBose at 21.
Enochs was able to negotiate a $1.2 million signing bonus and invested most of that before his playing career began. He said he was fortunate enough to surround himself with the right people leading up to the draft.
"I always had my family there to support me, but going through this for the first time, and not knowing anyone going through that, it was difficult," Enochs admitted. "You have agents calling you, scouts calling you, financial advisors calling you, so I guess you just go with your gut because I didn't have anyone to lean on as far as information.
"I was lucky enough to find an agent that was very trustworthy and someone I considered a friend. It worked out for me, and it isn't that way for everybody."
Enochs said he has seen clips of Manoah pitch this year for the Mountaineers, and he's very impressed with his stuff.
"He obviously looks good – an overpowering, big kid, and everything I've been able to see he looks pretty dominating," Enochs noted, adding, "whenever I came to WVU I was just a fastball-curveball guy and my curveball was inconsistent. It wasn't always consistent as far as throwing strikes whenever I needed so the development of the command of my breaking ball and then adding a changeup was something that kind of elevated me at the end of my sophomore year going into my junior year."
Which is exactly what Manoah did this year. The Miami resident has made a steady march up the draft board once he complemented his 96 mile-per-hour fastball with a wipeout slider.
Manoah finished this season with a 9-4 record that included a school-record 144 strikeouts in just 108 1/3 innings pitched.
His ERA was an exceptional 2.08.
"Manoah won't last beyond the 15thpick or so (Monday) and could go in the 7-10 range," CBS Sports draft expert Mike Axisa wrote last week. Using comparable scouting grades, CBS Sports pairs Manoah with such recent college performers Tyler Beede, Alex Faedo and Jackson Kowar in terms of ability.
Beede was the 14thoverall pick by the Giants in 2014, Faedo went No. 18 to the Tigers and Kowar was a sandwich pick as the 33rdchoice of the Royals two years ago.
The advice Enochs would give to Manoah is to be himself and pitch confidently.
"Do what you do and don't let that waver," Enochs said. "There are a lot of things that come at you as a first-round pick from the pressure you put on yourself to the pressure the organization may put on you with certain expectations you are going to try and live up to. All of that outside noise can sometimes get in your way, and my advice to him would be just do what you do – pitch and have fun with it. Things will take care of themselves if he does all of that."
Enochs recalled being instantly recognized when he signed with the A's as the organization's top pick in 1997.
"You go into your first spring training and I imagine he will probably get a major league invite as I did, and you are going there with a bunch of major leaguers. You are the first rounder from the prior year and everyone knows who you are, knows how much you signed for and that comes up quite a bit," Enochs recalled. "It's up to you to be you. That's what you're there to do to go out there and compete and pitch and all that other stuff, you hear it but that can't be your focus."
As far as the life-changing money Manoah is about to receive, Enochs has some advice for that, too, "I would tell him to surround himself with good people, people that he can trust as far as that's concerned and I'm sure he's got many different people coming at him. It's a matter of sitting down with those people and talking to them and following his gut. It doesn't always have to be the agent with the biggest reputation or the best client list, but whoever him and his family feels comfortable with."
Other than failing to make a major league roster, Enochs said he has no regrets about his professional career. There is one thing he would change, however.
"I just wish I would have been the 11thoverall pick today based on how much these guys are getting," he laughed.
Tonight's Major League Draft will get underway at 7 p.m. and will be televised live on MLB Network.
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