Big deal.

By the time June 20 rolls around, Moore already will have been drafted once. Only one of those is mandatory, though.

Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft opens Monday in New York, and among the names expected to be announced is that of Moore, North Rowan’s star left-handed pitcher.

Moore must answer any unlikely calls from Uncle Sam. But it’ll take a pretty spectacular offer from a professional baseball club for Moore to take part in tomorrow’s draft.

“I’ve considered it, but I’ve never really considered it seriously,” Moore said of the amateur draft. “For me it was easy. I just wanted to go play at school. I need to get my education, and I think I’ll have a lot more to offer in three years.”

Moore plans to honor his commitment to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His desire to pitch for the Tar Heels supercedes any major league dreams.

For now.

“I watch a lot of baseball games on TV, watch what the pitchers do,” Moore said. “I’ve thought about how maybe I can get there one day, but it’s never been like, ‘Maybe I can get there next year.’ It hasn’t really hit that close to home yet.”

‘A good experience’

Professional scouts and college coaches began swarming to Spencer last spring, when word of a 6-foot-5 fireballing lefty started spreading.

Moore struck out 125 batters in his junior season and so impressed UNC head coach Mike Fox that he extended a scholarship offer before Moore’s senior season.

Moore’s legendary status grew with every start this spring. He led the Cavaliers to the state championship series, finishing 13-2 and allowing less than one earned run per seven innings. He struck out 174 batters in 901

“Some teams, the fans start cheering if they just foul one off,” said Brad Canipe, Moore’s catcher at North the past two seasons. “At Ledford, one guy got a hit and somebody said, ‘Man, that was good, you got a hit off a major league pitcher!’ ”

Plenty of scouts agreed with that assessment. Baseball America’s annual draft report called Moore the ninth best professional prospect in the state. Six of the names ahead of his are college players, including three Tar Heels.

“I got a whole lot of phone calls, about 25 a week from different people wanting to know when he’s pitching,” North head coach Bill Kesler said. “My wife knew a lot of those scouts by first name by the time they got through calling all the time.”

Pitching to a high-profile audience didn’t bother Moore this year. When he warmed up before games in the muddy strip behind the Cavalier dugout, he tuned out the eight or 10 scouts watching his every move and scribbling in their little black books.

When he took to the mound, all he saw were Canipe and the batter. Never mind those half-dozen radar guns measuring every pitch.

“You kind of get bombarded with it when it first starts and you don’t really know how you’re going to handle it, but I think I’ve handled it real well,” Moore said. “I don’t think the attention has really gotten to me. It’s just been a lot of fun. It’s a good experience if you can go about it in the right way.

“Once I signed with Carolina and had somewhere to go play, I was never too worried.”

‘I despised the Tar Heels’

Baseball America’s report on Moore mentions right away that, despite all the pro interest, the left-hander is committed to North Carolina.

It sounds great to Fox, the Tar Heel coach. But he’ll still be on pins and needles watching the draft unfold.

“It’s always a little scary. This time of year, you’re just hoping you can hold on to all of them,” Fox said of his recruiting class. “We all know that when the draft comes along and your name’s on that board, the professional folks are going to come in and try to do their job.”

Usually, that means throwing money at 17-year-old kids and hoping they sign. Some do. Last year’s No. 1 pick, Raleigh’s Josh Hamilton, earned a $3.9 million signing bonus from Tampa Bay.

The numbers grow more modest in the later rounds, with Moore expected to go anywhere from the fourth to the seventh, but there are still plenty of zeroes there to impress most kids.

“We’ve heard Daniel tell scouts that there’s nothing in his life right now that he needs money for,” said Jeanie Moore, Daniel’s mother. “Jack and I aren’t destitute, we don’t have any serious illnesses in the family to where he might feel that obligation.

“In the middle class, you have what you need and most of what you want,” she added. “And neither Jack nor I mind working.”

Fox had bigger fish to fry than just warding off the pro scouts. His toughest mission with the Moores was convincing a pair of ardent Tar Heel haters to stock up on Carolina blue.

“I despised the Tar Heels, Daniel hated them,” said Jack, Daniel’s father. “We pulled against them in everything.”

Moore liked N.C. State’s program and also received interest from South Carolina and Ivy League schools Brown and Columbia.

Fox first approached Moore, along with parents Jack and Jeanie, last August in Wilmington at a showcase for the top high school players in the region.

Moore visited Carolina and immediately liked what he saw. He gave the Heels a verbal commitment in September after one visit each to Chapel Hill and Raleigh.

“When I was up there, the feeling I got from the other guys that were already on the team, and the coaching staff, they were about business,” Moore said. “They wanted to win, and they wanted to win soon. That really motivated me to want to go there.

“State’s a great place to go to school and a great place to play, and there were no negatives there for me,” Moore added. “There were just a lot of positives at Carolina.”

Daniel and his parents took in several Tar Heel games this season, slowly acclimating themselves to the college atmosphere — and cheering for Carolina.

The last time Moore made an appearance, he and Fox took part in a brief conversation.

“After the Florida State game, I said, ‘You’re still coming down here, right?’” Fox said. “Dan said, ‘Of course!’

“We felt all along that Daniel would enroll here. His parents feel like college is important for Daniel to develop, not only as a baseball player but as a student,” Fox added. “Here he’s got some years to grow up and still kind of be a kid.”

‘More ready for the majors’

Moore remains undecided when it comes to picking a college major. The North Rowan honor student, who holds a 4.1 grade point average (out of 4) and an 1150 SAT score, might just major in baseball for a year or two until he decides on a career path.

“College baseball is a total step up from high school ball and I know it’s going to be tough for me,” Moore said. “I’ll probably get hit a lot more and I won’t do as well, but I think I’ll just learn from everything that happens and make the best of the opportunity.”

Moore might get that chance immediately. Fox’s Tar Heels, who ended their season in the NCAA regionals with a record of 46-18, lose a lot of pitching. Included in that are four left-handers.

Moore is one of two lefty recruits in this class, and while he doesn’t necessarily expect to start as a freshman, he wants to at least “play a meaningful role.”

“We’re losing almost every pitcher on the roster, so some of these pitchers will need to make an impact,” Fox said. “They should all get an opportunity, and that should be a great inspiration, knowing they don’t have to wait their turn.”

Moore eagerly awaits that trial by fire over the next three years. The major league draft stipulates that, once a player is picked and declines an offer, he must wait until after his junior or senior year of college to be drafted again.

Area scouts currently project Moore going anywhere from the fourth to seventh rounds in this year’s draft, although that number probably will fall because of the UNC commitment.

The Moores hope a strong college career will prepare their son for a potential baseball career. No matter what happens on the field, they’re sure three years at Chapel Hill will prepare Daniel for life more than several years in the minor leagues would.

“Three years of college will make him more ready to pitch in the major leagues and more ready to deal with the pressure of playing in the major leagues,” Jack Moore said.

“I’ll watch the first round, but I won’t really be listening to hear my name called,” added Daniel. “If it gets called, I’ll feel great about it. If it doesn’t, I’ve got another shot at it later.”

That’s exactly what happened for Tar Heels Tyrell Godwin, Ryan Snare and Eric Henderson. Godwin, an out fielder, turned down $1.9 million from the Yankees out of high school and now is considered a top pick.

Snare and Henderson are both left-handers, ranked second and seventh in the state, respectively.

Moore’s fans back in Spencer hope the former Cavaliers’ fortunes rise that high, too.

“He’s going to a great program where he’s going to get a lot of exposure, and there’s No. 1 draft picks coming out of the ACC every year,” Kesler said. “In three years, I expect him to get drafted high again.”

“We’re going to make a big sign that says ‘D-Rock’ that has an arrow pointing down, and he’ll know who it is,” said Canipe, referring to Moore’s nickname among the Cavs. “When he’s there (the majors), I’m going to tell my kids about it. ‘Yeah, he was on my team. I caught him.’ ”

And if, for some reason, everything doesn’t go according to plan at Carolina, Moore can fall back on his education and start dreaming of other things.