Tim Naehring Run the Ball Out

Two scouts in the press box are talking about the draft.  Not the one coming up in June, the won held 24 years ago.

Tim Naehring was drafted by Boston in the 8th round by the Boston Red Sox out of Miami of Ohio and LaSalle High School.  Carl Lowenstein scouts for the Los Angeles Dodgers and has for 33 years.

This morning they were talking about the year that Naehring was drafted.  Lowenstein claims he had Naehring in his report as a third round pick.  Naehring claims not to believe it.

"If he had me any higher than the 22nd round, I might be driving around Beverly Hills in a limo," Naehring said.

"If you had run the ball out that day, I would have had you even higher," Lowenstein shot back referring to the day he wrote his report.  "I thought we had him. I knew he could hit. He just didn't run real well."

"That cage doesn't do anything for speed," Naehring said.

Naehring was the 199th player picked in the 1988 draft.  The Dodgers ended up with Eric Karros from that draft.  The Reds most notable player from that draft was infielder Jeff Branson.

Naehring played eight years in Boston with a .282 career batting average, 49 home runs and 250 RBI.  He stole five bases to back up Lowenstein's claim that he couldn't run real well.

Naehring's uncle Mark,also from LaSalle, was drafted in the third round.  The White Sox picked him in the 1977 draft.  Mark Naehring played six seasons in the minor leagues.  He hit .277 for his career but had bad knees.

The real injury that ended Uncle Mark's career was a broken eye socket that ruined his vision.

Mark was on first base in a minor league game with two outs.  There was a ground ball to shortstop Luis Aguayo.  Aguayo stepped on second and forgetting that there were two outs threw to first base anyway.  The ball hit Naehring in the eye socket.  The injury prevented Mark Naehring from advancing to the major league level.