R-C Sports Notebook: Passing on Miller unbelievable

I'm not going to claim to know more (or even near as much) as a Major League Baseball scout.

I don't know the inner-workings of the draft room, I can't look at a player and dress down the flaws in his game by his simple mechanics and I wouldn't be able to rate a top 50 prospect if my life depended on it.

But, plain and simple, the fact that former Douglas outfielder Bryan Miller didn't get chosen in this year's draft is really a shame.

This isn't local bias here, although I'm sure there are hundreds of kids around the country that experienced the same thing last week.

But on that same thread, there really aren't hundreds of other kids with Miller's story.

Miller was the only player in the country with such credentials that went undrafted.

Consider this. Of the 17 players named to the NCAA Division I All-American first team this year, only three were not drafted.

The other two, both pitchers (San Diego State's Stephen Strassburg and Miami's Chris Hernandez), weren't even eligible for the draft because they are still underclassmen.

Each position player on the team went within the first 700 picks of the draft. Miller languished into the later rounds, as was originally expected, but as the draft slipped into its final stages his chances became more and more slim.

The kicker was that three teams (The Dodgers, Blue Jays and Padres) dropped out before the 48th round, which means that they'd rather pass on their final three picks than take a chance on a first-team All-American.

I don't know how Miller rates on the scouting scale, but you can't argue with his performance on the field.

He's risen to All-American status at every level he's played since leaving high school (NJCAA and NCAA) and he's led his respective teams (Mesa College and Troy University) to the national tournaments at their respective levels.

He left high school unrecruited by any post-secondary school. He now leaves college as an undrafted All-American. He's a free agent now. One can only hope some team gives him a shot.

You never know, it could end up being the steal of the century.

Just a little background here: I got this wild idea in my head a couple weeks ago that I was going to attempt to compete in the all-comers track meets at South Lake Tahoe this July and August.

The idea up there is that these weekly meets, held on Thursdays and conducted by area track official Anthony Davis, are open to anyone ages 2 to 99.

I now have a little over a month to get into competition shape before the first meet.

After last week's post, I was unofficially adopted by the reader's of masterstrack.org.

I was bombarded with many helpful tips and advice, along with some encouraging words.

One writer advised me that in order to prepare for the 800, I had to start running the track in short segments to focus on my mechanics and build up my speed in the weeks leading up to the meet.

So I started Monday morning by running 100 meters eight times (I was advised to do 10 the first time out, but my body is still adjusting to this increased workload!).

I was advised to do these sessions at least twice a week (I'm planning on three with longer, more relaxed runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays) leading up to the meet, building up to 8x200 and 4x400 increments over time.

"Once you get used to the feeling, you will feel like you are gliding over the track," she said.

I've gotten off to a rough start, as I am running the 800 in nearly four minutes (The NIAA state champ this year ran a 1:50 and the average person probably should be able to do it in 3:00). Granted, I'm still horribly out of shape and I'm very new to the workout program.

I've set two goals for myself this summer. In order to run in a meet, I want to run the event in three minutes (it would be a 53-second drop over the next four weeks, which is pretty lofty, but considering my relative lack of prior training, I don't see it being out-of-reach.)

If I'd been training seriously for several months already and I was expecting to drop nearly a minute off my time, that would be a very different story. Considering the circumstances, my ceiling is still pretty high.

The other goal, my ultimate for this summer, is to run the 800 in 2:44. One of my new friends from the masterstrack Web site informed me it is humanly impossible to be lapped in the 800 if you can finish the race in 2:44. So that'll be the final goal for this summer.

This will be a weekly column item through the summer, so anyone with any tips, suggestions or stories of their own is more than welcome to contact me at jcrandalll@recordcourier.com

Stats for Week 1, 800 meters: Baseline time, 3:53 (Ugh). Best time this summer: 3:53. Best time this week: 3:53. Goal in order to run in a meet: 3:00. Goal for the summer: 2:44.

- We're kind of in that dead spot of the summer where nothing is really happening for a couple weeks, so anyone with any story tips should feel to give me a call. Don't be shy, things you might think aren't newsworthy can turn into some really cool stories.

"I didn't have a conversation with the pastry ... I ate it." - Newsradio.