As No. 7 pick, LHP plans to sign instead of playing at A&M

01:14 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 7, 2006

By TIM MacMAHON / The Dallas Morning News

UNIVERSITY PARK – Highland Park's Clayton Kershaw raised both arms, leaned on a doorway and breathed a big sigh of relief when he heard his name announced during Tuesday's Major League Baseball First-Year Players Draft.

Not much of a celebration, considering the Los Angeles Dodgers made Kershaw the seventh overall pick.

Kershaw, a 6-4, 210-pound left-handed pitcher, was the first high school player drafted. The last time an area high school player was selected higher was when the Toronto Blue Jays took Arlington Bowie outfielder Vernon Wells with the fifth pick in 1997.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," Kershaw said more than an hour later. "It still hasn't. It's just been a whirlwind."

Baseball America ranked Kershaw as the nation's top high school prospect, but he said he didn't want to have any expectations entering the draft to guard against disappointment. About a dozen friends and family members joined Kershaw in his home to monitor the draft on the Internet.

Kershaw, who went 13-0 with an 0.77 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 64 innings this season, signed with Texas A&M. He said, however, he intends to pass up his scholarship offer to sign with the Dodgers.

Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, the No. 7 pick in last year's draft, received a $2.3 million signing bonus from the Colorado Rockies. That figure will be the starting point in Kershaw's negotiations with the Dodgers.

"He has to buy his mom some airline tickets or an RV," his mother, Marianne, said.

A's take Hillcrest star in third round: Hillcrest outfielder Matt Sulentic entered his senior season hoping to be drafted in the late rounds. But his stock soared en route to winning the area triple crown by hitting .654 with 20 home runs and 59 RBIs. Oakland selected him in the third round with the 98th overall pick.

"I'm fired up, dude," said Sulentic, the highest draft pick from the Dallas ISD since Roosevelt's Edward Randolph went 73rd overall in 1993.

Reality show runner-up goes in fifth round: Texas Tech pitcher Dustin Richardson, the runner-up on the ESPN reality show Knight School, was taken by Boston in the fifth round. The show featured walk-ons trying out for one spot on Texas Tech's basketball team. Richardson, a 6-6 right-hander, went 4-2 with a 4.17 ERA this season.

UT has two taken in first round: Texas had two players taken among the top 40 picks for the second time in three drafts. Center fielder Drew Stubbs went to Cincinnati with the eighth pick, and the Chicago White Sox drafted right-handed pitcher Kyle McCulloch 29th overall. Pitchers J.P. Howell (Kansas City) and Huston Street (Oakland) were taken as compensation picks in 2004.

E-mail tmacmahon@dallasnews.com