MILWAUKEE (AP) -The future of every Brewers player begins on little index cards stacked haphazardly in a deck on Jack Zduriencik’s desk.
“I’ve got all of them from years gone by,” Zduriencik says as the cards overflow from a shelf in his office. “Prince Fielder is in here, Rickie Weeks is in here. I keep them all.”
The 57-year-old special assistant to the GM’s task is to find the next wave of talent for the Brewers, who have six of the first 62 picks in Thursday and Friday’s first-year player draft, beginning with No. 16 overall.
Since Zduriencik came to Milwaukee in 1999, he’s selected Fielder and Weeks as well as reigning NL Rookie of the Year Ryan Braun, J.J Hardy, Corey Hart, Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra and Tony Gwynn Jr. Zduriencik (pronounced Zur-EN’-sik) predates Doug Melvin, who took over as general manager after the 2002 season.
“He just asked me one simple question, ‘Do you want to stay?’ And I said yes,” Zduriencik said in his Miller Park office.
Melvin has said it is one of the smartest moves he made.
Milwaukee’s farm system is a model of consistency, so much so that Houston hired Bobby Heck in 2007 and Arizona named Tom Allison in 2006 as scouting directors after both worked under Zduriencik.
Baseball America named Zduriencik Executive of the Year following the 2007 season, making him the first non-GM to win the award.
Zduriencik, from New Castle, Pa., a blue collar community about 40 miles from Pittsburgh, grew up the son of a steel mill worker and spent three summers doing it himself near the Ohio-Pennsylvania line.
He’s still tied to those roots, keeping a signed mini-helmet of former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll in his office along with his baseball memorabilia.
After a stint coaching college and high school baseball and football, he joined the scouting ranks, rising to scouting director for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1991-93.
There, he made the decision to draft Jason Kendall with their first pick in 1992.
“We had such limitations financially, it was tough at that time,” he said. “In Jason’s case, I remember we passed Charles Johnson to take Jason Kendall. I had a lot of guys say to me after the draft, ‘Jeez, you guys are crazy.”’
But Zduriencik saw something in Kendall from a brief workout.
“I talked to him for one minute and I shook his hand, looked him right in the eye, you could just see it,” Zduriencik said. “We sat in the room and all of our crosscheckers, every single guy, including myself … said we’re taking Kendall. That was it. We didn’t bat an eye.”
Kendall, a three-time All-Star, is reunited with Zduriencik in Milwaukee after signing a one-year contract as a free agent.
“Jack is just an unbelievable person. Obviously his track record speaks for itself,” said Kendall, who never realized the conviction Zduriencik and his staff in Pittsburgh had that day. “It’s flattering.”
Zduriencik’s latest first-round pick, Matt LaPorta, has quickly risen to Double-A Huntsville. LaPorta was a slugging first baseman at the University of Florida, but the Brewers decided from the start to make him an outfielder after a workout impressed them.
Assistant general manager Gord Ash turned the draft card in with LaPorta written as a left fielder.
“Because if we take this guy and they say first base, they’re going to think we’re out of our minds,” Zduriencik said. “Sure enough, they announced it ‘First baseman, Matt LaPorta.’ But, we did our homework.”
That homework has paid off deeper in drafts, too.
Hart was an 11th round pick in 2000 and current reliever Tim Dillard was selected 33 rounds after Fielder in the 2002 draft.
Thing was, Dillard, who struggled with shoulder injuries, mainly played as a catcher and was rehabbing most of the season before being selected.
“I was surprised that they would take the time to keep up with me,” Dillard said. “I got a phone call that said, ‘We drafted you in the 34th round.’ I’m thinking, why? I barely even played. But they’re like ‘We liked what we saw, we know you’re going to be healthy.”’
Milwaukee, which went 15 years between winning seasons, has also given players time to develop.
“We’re not a big market club. This is the thing we had to sell to families,” Zduriencik said. “We’ve got a good ballpark, you’re not going to have cold weather, you’re going to play indoors, but more than anything else, we run our guys through the system and if you sign with Milwaukee, we’re not going out and spending $40, $50, $100 million on players.”
Dillard said that made an impression on him early.
“I’ve plugged away every year at every level,” Dillard said. “The guys you see go up around you, they’re given a chance. I mean, think about it, if you’re with the Yankees and you’re playing shortstop or third base, you’re kind of like, ‘I’m going to peak at Triple-A and then get traded.’
“They have a lot of faith in Zduriencik. He goes out and finds great talent.”
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