Big Decisions, Bright Futures

If Jacob Esch, Joe Loftus or Matt Puhl wanted to act like your typical young prima donna athlete, it might be understandable. The three Twin Cities area baseball stars - Esch is a Cretin-Derham Hall Raider while Loftus plays for Holy Angels Academy and Puhl for North St. Paul - seem to have every right to act as they have the world in a collective choke hold. All three have committed to well-respected NCAA Division I baseball programs and all three are also rumored to potential high draft picks in this month's Major League Baseball draft. The potential dilemma is one that any high school senior baseball player would love to have: sign a pro contract with a potentially significant signing bonus or play college ball on a full scholarship. Yeah, with a future like that, you might expect some arrogance, but that's not how these guys come off at all. A Georgia Tech commit, Esch said he isn't worried about where he might go in the draft or preparing for his college career. He's more focused on helping Cretin win the Minnesota Class AAA state championship again after helping last year's team earn the school's first state title since 2001 when Joe Mauer was wearing purple. Esch - who batted .495 with 45 RBI and went 8-0 on the mound while also playing shortstop last year - was named to the All-Tournament team in 2007 and hopes to lead Cretin back June 12-13 at Midway Stadium. "I haven't really heard anything about where I might go," Esch said. "I understand I might get drafted, but thinking about it is not going to win state titles or baseball games. If June 5 rolls around and I'm not drafted, I hopefully will still have another week of high school baseball to play so my attitude is if it happens, it happens." Like the other two, Loftus excels as a pitcher and infielder for his Holy Angels team. During his junior year, Loftus batted .531 with nine home runs and 34 RBI. The hard-throwing right-hander also logged a 1.90 ERA on the mound and struck out 45 batters in 40 innings of work. Those gaudy numbers helped Loftus get noticed by a lot of scouts, college and pro alike, and he ended up committing to Vanderbilt after trimming his final list to Notre Dame, Minnesota, Arizona State and Georgia Tech. Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin flew to the Twin Cities to meet one-on-one with Loftus after watching him at a tournament last summer. "I knew they were really interested after that and I had a good feeling," Loftus said. "I just fell in love with the school and fell in love with the coaches. It's a really good school academically, too, and that was important." Loftus has been told he might go in the first three rounds and that he isn't sure which way he would go if and when he is drafted. "It's a tough decision and it comes up almost every day from somebody," he said. "There are a lot of things that go into it. There's money and rounds and so many different things that could come out of (the draft). My family and I will make that decision when the time comes, but it would take a lot to keep me away from Vanderbilt." The combination infield - Loftus plays third base - and pitching prospect says he likely won't be doing anything big on draft day. "I'll probably just be having dinner with my family and watching everything on TV," he said. "I would love to be drafted by the Twins, but I'll play hard for anybody if that's the route I choose to take." Puhl was North's baseball MVP in 2007 and also was an accomplished quarterback for the Polars' football team, earning All-Classic Suburban honors last fall. Over the summer, Puhl was named MVP of his legion team, too, after batting .360 and knocking in 20 runs. The 6-foot-5 shortstop/pitcher - he projects as an infielder in college - signed on to play baseball for the University of Minnesota and longtime Gopher coach John Anderson last November. Puhl said allowing his family and friends to come and watch him play weighed heavily in his decision. "It wasn't a big deal about staying home, but I just thought it was going to be easier for me," Puhl said. "I also really liked the coaches over there. Coach Anderson is a great guy and there's a lot of tradition and history with that program." Although he admits he has been hearing rumors as to where he might go, Puhl hasn't spent much time this season thinking about it. "My coach asked me if I wanted to know when scouts were at our games and I said no," Puhl said. "It's just not something I think I need to know about. I should want to play just as hard whether I know someone is watching me or not." Just like Loftus and Esch, Puhl says he is more worried about his high school season and his senior year and not with analyzing what might or might not happen. "I'll stay updated on what happens (with the draft), but I'm not going be sitting there wondering if I'm going next," he said. "The last thing I want to do is diminish anything for my team during the year because I'm committed to them and we want to play well." With some big decisions and opportunities coming up for this trio, it's hard to argue there's a wrong way to go. After listening to them, it's even harder to imagine any one of the three would make anything but the right call.