Baltimore Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo sat in his office at Oriole Park at Camden Yards Friday with a big grin on his face.
After months of personal scrutiny about his job, Perlozzo was relishing this moment. He had just gotten off the phone with his 22-year-old son, Eric. The former Shippensburg University second baseman had been drafted in the 35th round in First-Year Major League Baseball Draft. Additionally, it was by a club near and dear to the family?s collective heart ? the Orioles.
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“They?ve done a lot of good things for me,” Sam Perlozzo said. “I don?t like to say they did me a favor ? there were a lot of rounds left. They could have waited until the very end and didn?t. So they?ve got to give Eric a little bit of credit for being a better player than that, but it means a lot that they did that.”
The scouting report on Eric is much like that on his father, a long-time minor league infielder himself. Sam Perlozzo, who briefly played with the Minnesota Twins and San Diego Padres, was a five-time minor league fielding champion during nine seasons.
Eric missed all of the 2006 season after tearinga ligament in his right throwing hand, but he returned to bat .295 in his senior season with a .989 fielding percentage.
He could not be reached through the Orioles.
“Eric is an athletic kid,” said Joe Jordan, the Orioles? director of scouting. “He can really run. He?s a very good defensive player, smart … and he?s made a lot of improvement in the last 12 months, in my staff?s opinion.”
While the end result was a joyous one for the Perlozzo family, the Orioles manager said his son was too nervous to linger around Camden Yards to see if he had been chosen by a team. He decided to golf in Howard County to bide his time. When Eric got the call from the Orioles, he phoned his father with the news.
“He?s fired up,” Sam Perlozzo said. “He told me, ?Don?t worry about it, I?ll work my butt off, Dad.? That?s all you can ask.”
