Jakob Junis remembers the golf carts.
There were dozens. Each seat filled with scouts and college recruiters. They were parked along the baselines of a ballfield in Jupiter, Fla., where Junis, then a senior in high school, spun his biting curveball to some of the best players in the country.
Junis himself was one of the top prep talents coming out of Illinois in the Class of 2011, but he wasn't the main attraction at the 2010 World Wood Bat Association Championships. Evaluators were drawn in a crush to Roger Dean Sports Complex by the combined star power of Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, Jose Fernandez and Daniel Vogelbach — all teammates of Junis’ on a squad run by former Rockies all-star outfielder Dante Bichette.