Ryan Madson, the Piedmont Boll Weevils’ 19-year old right-handed pitcher, was told of Moore on Sunday, the day before the draft and he had some advice for the North Rowan High School star regarding the spiel of professional baseball scouts:

Don’t listen to any of it.

As a skinny, 6-foot-6 17-year old, the scouts came to Madson’s home in Moreno Valley, located in southern California. They told him a lot of different things too. They talked about big bucks and how high he was going to be drafted.

“The colleges came in first to recruit me and then the pro scouts,” said Madson, now a 19-year old diaper dandy, currently 2-4 for the Weevils. “I’ll never believe anything a scout says again. Scouts will tell you one thing and it never comes true.”

Of course, Moore won’t have to worry. His family made it clear he was going to the University of North Carolina and on Monday, 20 rounds came and went without his name called.

So Madson’s advice can go to the next high school kid with big numbers like Moore put up this season.

“My junior year was big for me,” he said. “That’s when all the scouts came to see me and got to know who I was.”

As a senior, he counted representatives from 25 major league teams who said they were interested.

Like Moore, he had already signed, putting his name on a sheet of paper bearing the logo of the University of Southern California. And he learned a hard lesson about the real world, thanks to the scouts.

“Somebody can tell (Moore) he’s getting a million but it doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen,” Madson said.“They told me, `We’ll draft you here and we’ll draft you there.

“Ihad one team call on the day of the draft.”

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That one team, the Philadelphia Phillies, called in the morning.

“They asked me if I wanted to sign in the third round for $125,000,” Madson recalled. “I said, ‘No’ and hung up, not thinking.”

At 3 p.m., the Phillies called again, telling Madson they were going to draft him in the ninth round.

“I got decent money,” he said, not elaborating on figures. “But it wasn’t about money. It was about what I wanted to do.

“There were a lot of reasons Isigned,” he continued. “One was just a gut feeling. The other was, I didn’t want to go to college, risk injury and not get a chance to play professionally. That’s probably the biggest reason.”

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Madson was sent to Martinsville, Va. as a 17-year old. Wasn’t he scared out of his wits being 3,000 miles from home and not having Mom and Dad around? Not hardly.

“It was awesome,” he said, adding that his host family made his living in the south a happy time. “People in Virginia were so nice and made me feel at home.”

Madson’s parents told him it was his decision to sign or not to sign. They were happy that the Phillies cared about his future.

“They were supportive either way,” he said. “They told me it was my life. They wanted a college education but that was in the works anyway. The Phillies bought out the USCscholarship.”

By the way, Madson, who won’t turn 20 until Aug. 28, had a 3.5 GPA. He is still thought of highly, being ranked currently as the organization’s 10th best prospect.

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So while Moore will definitely go to college for a few years before possibly being drafted again, Madson has advice for the next Rowan star, perhaps someone like East Rowan’s rising junior Cal Hayes.

“I’d tell him, ‘Go with what feels right,’ “ Madson said. “Take advice both ways, weigh one, then weigh the other. Remember, it’s your life. It’s your career.”

That’s what Ryan Madson did and so far, it looks like the right choice.

“I have no second thoughts about it and no doubts,” he said. Iwouldn’t have changed a thing.”

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