Shadle Grad Keeps Eye On Major League Play

The 1990s have been marked by a series of athletic milestones for Shadle Park graduate Rob Ryan.

The most recent was his selection in the June draft by a fledging major league baseball franchise, the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The expansion team of Jerry Colangelo, who also owns the NBA Phoenix Suns and NHL Coyotes hockey team, was touted in Sports Illustrated as a first-rate operation under former New York Yankee manager Buck Showalter.

Ryan was one of 60 rookies in on the ground floor, beginning with a minicamp by the major league team’s staff.

“I talked with several scouts during the year and didn’t know who would get me,” Ryan said by phone from Butte, Mont. “The Diamondbacks are my ideal team.”

Arizona won’t begin play until 1998. Its minor league operation currently consists of just two Class A teams stocked with rookie players.

Ryan, who played four years at Washington State University, is the centerfielder for the Pioneer League Lethbridge Black Diamonds, the organization’s advanced, short-season A team.

“I’m leading off and hitting around .320,” said the fleet outfielder, who was chosen in the 24th round of this spring’s draft.

“The way I run, they want me to just hit line drives and keep the ball out of the air.”

His selection in the draft is only the latest milestone for Ryan since 1990.

As a Shadle Park sophomore with a confessed preference for football and basketball, Ryan started along with four seniors on the Highlanders’ 1990 state championship basketball team. The team also made a return trip to Seattle his senior year.

That occurred after the two-way player was part of Shadle Park’s highest finishing state football semifinalists.

“Baseball was kind of my third sport out of high school,” he said. “Dad (District 81 student activities administrator Dan Ryan) coached football, and I always kind of liked basketball.”

But it was baseball where Ryan attracted the most collegiate attention following an All-Greater Spokane League junior year and outstanding senior season.

He led the GSL in hitting at .500, breaking the league record with 29 hits, and finished second with 21 stolen bases.

WSU Coach Bobo Brayton came calling, as did coaches from three other colleges.

“When he came into Shadle Park, he had his crimson jacket on,” Ryan recalled. “He had history behind him. No question I wanted to go there.”

As a freshman, Ryan made 31 starts and played in 44 games, batting .385 over the final dozen. His sophomore year, he said, was “kind of rough.”

But he struck out only eight times in 125 at bats. His first two years he averaged .261.

“Just going to college is a big enough adjustment,” he said. “(Also) playing a Division I sport takes a while to get used to.”

The summer after his sophomore year, Ryan played for the Wichita (Kan.) Broncos, who were second in the 64-team National Baseball Congress tournament.

Brayton, the legend, retired that year, and Ryan welcomed new coach Steve Farrington. He stressed Ryan’s forte - quickness and base stealing.

During his junior year, Ryan was the team’s third-leading hitter with a .329 average. He was second in hits with 76, and third in runs scored and runs batted in. The Cougars won the Pacific 10 North division and played the University of Southern California for the league championship.

This year Ryan hit .300, starting and playing in 59 of WSU’s 61 games. He was fourth in career games played, 214, and fifth with 692 at-bats.

His quickness and defense, which Brayton recruited and Farrington exploited, earned him a shot at professional baseball.

“Getting an opportunity to do it is all I wanted,” said Ryan. “Now that I’ve done that, I want to see if I can keep it moving.”

He’s started 16 of Lethbridge’s 20 games so far. Primarily a singles hitter, he had a home run on the first pitch of his first home game at bat.

The switch to wooden from metal bats hasn’t been a problem, he said, crediting that to two summers in the Kansas Jayhawk League.

“That’s a wood-bat league, and I think it helped a lot,” he said.

The pitching is good but not much different from what he saw in college. The biggest adjustment has been on defense, where batted balls get to the outfield quicker.

The extra attention merited from the Diamondbacks’ major league staff has been an added bonus.

“The last few days in Ogden, Buck and a couple of big league coaches were there teaching us everything,” said Ryan. “No other minor league teams are getting that kind of experience.”

Professional baseball is everything Ryan expected, even at the Class A level. It’s been an opportunity to play quality ball, travel and meet people.

Ryan is three classes short of his business degree and a Pac-10 all-academic team member with a grade-point average over 3.0.

“I’m going to give it a legitimate three years, look where I’m at and see if I have a chance of making it,” he said.

Being part of a milestone major league baseball expansion team is a good place to start.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo