Q&A with USC shortstop Grant Green
By John Klima
March 23, 2009
Grant Green, SS, (6-3, 180), USC (2009 Draft Class)
USC shortstop Grant Green is expected to be a Top 10 pick in the 2009 MLB draft
Grant Green is proud to say that he is 1-for-1 off Major League pitching, though he has yet to play an inning in the big leagues. Green is positioning himself to get many more Major League at-bats in his future. The junior shortstop at USC is projected to be a top-10 draft pick this June, and when he signs, he will immediately be placed on the fast track to the big leagues.
If Green goes in the top 10 picks, he’ll become the sixth USC player to be selected in the first 10 since 1995 and would be the fourth position player, following Geoff Jenkins (1995), Eric Munson (1999) and Jeff Clement (2005). Jenkins has enjoyed a solid everyday career, a path Green might be better suited to follow than either Munson or Clement, whose best tools were power but had only average to below-average complementary skills. Green’s summer in the Cape Cod League, where he hit a game-winning home run in the All-Star Game and was named the CCBL’s top pro prospect, put him on the right track for 2009. His infield athleticism draws comparisons to Troy Tulowitzki or Evan Longroia.
Green explained to Baseball Beginnings what he thinks about the comparisons, how changing his swing and approach made him a better hitter, his thoughts about playing short in the majors, how he grew up a Giants fan in Angel country, and his first unofficial hit against a Major League pitcher, and his encounters with two pitchers the New York Yankees tried to buy out of playing college baseball. Read the exclusive Baseball Beginnings interview with Grant Green.
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