By
Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA right fielder leads Wildcats into three-game series against Cal
Will Shelley Duncan leave Arizona and turn professional after the season? UA head coach Jerry Stitt thinks so.
Duncan himself isn't so sure.
The UA baseball team's junior right fielder leads the nation in home runs with 19 and will be eligible to enter the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft in June.
Unlike the NBA Draft, the MLB draft allows players to test the professional waters and then decide if they want to continue playing college baseball.
That's exactly what Duncan has planned on doing.
"I have to wait to see what happens in June," Duncan said. "It's a no-lose situation either way."
Financially, it would be smarter for Duncan to leave after this season.
"After this year I could get drafted and I could say 'I'm not going to sign unless I get this much money,'" he said. "Then (the team that drafts him) will be threatened because I can still come back to college.
"But let's say that I wait until my senior year - I'll get jack shit. Most college seniors get jack shit because they will have no leverage."
Another UA baseball player faced the same situation last year.
Pitcher Ben Diggins, who left the Wildcats following the 2000 season, was drafted No. 17 overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Like Diggins last year, Stitt feels that Duncan is ready for the next level.
"I think the way he's been going that he's going to have to go," Stitt said. "He'll be drafted high enough that he will get what he wants. Shelley, who should be a first-rounder, is ready to go out."
If Duncan decides to play professionally next season, he will join both his father, Dave, and his brother, Chris.
Dave Duncan is the pitching coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, while his brother, who is 19, plays Class A baseball for the same club.
Shelley Duncan wouldn't mind joining them at the end of the season.
"Hopefully, one day we can all end up in the same organization," he said.
Duncan has overcome a lot since last year - his best friend and teammate Kelsey Osburn died in July after sustaining head injuries while playing summer-league baseball in Rochester, N.J.
On the field, Duncan returned from reconstructive elbow surgery last year after tearing elbow ligaments while pitching.
After a slow start to his 2001 campaign, the power-hitter has heated up recently, knocking five home runs in his last six games en route to a Pacific 10 Conference Player of the Week award.
Against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last weekend, the junior went 8 for 13, hit three home runs, had 10 RBIs and hit for the cycle.
Even though Duncan's numbers were solid through the first half of the season, he felt they were not as high as they could have been.
So before the Washington State series on April 6, Duncan made an adjustment to his swing.
"I decided I was not going to hit any more home runs and was just going to get base hits and hit line drives up the middle," he said. "I felt like I was swinging too hard. All of a sudden, I was getting a lot more hits."
The change has paid off - the right fielder raised his average 28 points last weekend and is now batting .333.
Duncan will again test his new batting stance in a three-game series against Pac-10 opponent California beginning tonight at 7.
Arizona has a half-game lead on Cal in the Pac-10 standings
"They have really good pitching," Duncan said. "This year we have a better attitude than last year when they beat us 2-of-3 games there."
Arizona (27-17) will counter Cal's pitching staff with three freshmen - Marc Kaiser (7-3), Sean Rierson (4-4) and Chris Goodman (3-3).
