Baseball in Fort Wayne

Today is draft day. And while it’s four years since the Padres selected Matt Bush – the hometown kid from San Diego’s Mission Bay High School – as the top overall pick, the team remains optimistic about the future of the shortstop-turned-pitcher.

This is despite the fact that he has never played above A ball.

He’s been arrested for bar fighting at age 19, had a spat of injuries and proven he can’t hit. The Friar had to postpone the conversion to pitcher experiment when Bush tore en elbow ligment after 8 pitches with the Wizards (though it was reported to be 98 mph). He underwent Tommy John surgery that September and likely will pitch very little this season if at all.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that, once he comes back from his surgery, that he’s going to be worth that 1-1 [first pick of the first round],” says Mike Couchee, the Padres’ minor league pitching coordinator. “He’s going to come back better and in better shape than the first time we sent him out as a pitcher [source: SI.com].”

So, while the word is out on the 2008 picks, maybe Fort Wayne will see the 2004 top overall pick, Matt Bush, yet again in 2009.