By JIM BAUMBACH

April 13, 2008

When Bobby Lanigan stepped onto the rubber for a bullpen session before a game in Florida last month, he suddenly was staring at about 40 radar guns. For the Adelphi junior, life really hasn't been the same since.

It has been 15 years since an Adelphi player was taken in the Major League Baseball amateur draft, but that stretch will end this season with Lanigan. And according to people within the industry, the 6-4, 220-pound righthander shouldn't last too long on draft day.

The draft is not until June, but Lanigan already is feeling the excitement. His focus is on his current season, in which he is 1-4 with a 2.70 ERA, 53 strikeouts and 12 walks in 46 2/3 innings. But of course he is thinking about what lies ahead, and he gets so pumped talking about it that he fidgets in his seat.

"Every kid on their Little League field dreams of being the next Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, whoever, and now to maybe have that opportunity . . .," Lanigan said before a practice last month. His voice trailed off and he shook his head, seemingly in disbelief.

"I was that kid at 10 years old saying that," he added. "At my second grade career day, I said I want to be a baseball player. They said that's going to be real tough. Now to have that opportunity, it's such a reality check."

Scouts from just about every major league team began reaching out to Lanigan in the fall after he performed well in a top summer league. The Coastal Plain League traditionally serves as a showcase for the nation's best college players, and Lanigan more than held his own against teams mostly made up of Division I players.

Only five pitchers threw more innings than his 64 1/3 and had a better ERA than his 2.38. And opponents clearly had a hard time adjusting to his fastball-slider combo; they hit just .200 (44-for-220) against him.

Lanigan credited his success to his summer workouts with friends and current minor-leaguers Nick Doscher (Royals) and Anthony Varvaro (Mariners). Doscher was Lanigan's catcher at Moore Catholic High on Staten Island. Lanigan improved the strength in his legs, which in turn has made his fastball regularly hit 93 compared with 89 a year ago.

Lanigan didn't get any looks from pro scouts when he was a high school senior. Playing Division I baseball was a possibility, but he became sold on Division II Adelphi after meeting coach Dom Scala. Lanigan had the opportunity to play right away and wholeheartedly believes he's better for it.

Lanigan threw a curveball in high school, but when he arrived at Adelphi, his new pitching coach, Brian Corbo, had him throw a slider instead. That now is his out pitch, and Scala didn't hesitate to call it "a big-league slider."

"You see it," Scala said, "and then you don't."

After the initial correspondence with the scouts in the fall, Lanigan was invited to private workouts. The Yankees had him pitch at Yankee Stadium. Then scouts sent him psychological tests; he said some tests included as many as 300 questions and took hours to complete.

The Phillies invited him to Citizens Bank Park along with several other of the area's top players. He walked on the field, met the team's scouting director and even toured the clubhouse while Jimmy Rollins, of all people, was inside. "I'm a Mets fan and Jimmy Rollins killed us last year," he said. "I didn't even want to come too close to being in contact with him with what I wanted to say to him."

Now agents are starting to call Lanigan, giving him and his parents their pitches about why they should be the ones to represent him as an adviser at the draft.

It all can be so overwhelming. Scala thought back to that day in Florida when all those radar guns pointed at Lanigan and said, "I think I was more nervous than he was."

But as the draft approaches, Lanigan is having a blast. "Where am I going to be? Who's it going to be? All that stuff, it's great," he said. "Some people might think of it as overwhelming, but I think it's exciting."