BIG lefty Sean West gets the call from Florida

In all the excitement -- and there was plenty of that -- Sean West forgot to even think about his chance to continue his newest love affair.

The Captain Shreve High School product, a 6-foot-8 left-handed pitcher with a 10-2 record as a senior, was chosen by the Florida Marlins with the 44th selection in Major League Baseball's First-Year Players Draft.

Getting picked by a National League team will let him continue to work on his hitting, something he only picked up on for the 2005 season.

"I didn't even think about that," he said. "I love hitting."

The Marlins had become the favorite to select West in recent days.

"I had a feeling they were, but you can't really tell with the draft," West says.

The feeling came true just around lunchtime when the Miami-area team selected him.

"We try to take what's in the draft and draw from that, and this year's draft had an abundance of strong high school pitching,'' Marlins Vice President of Player Development and Scouting Jim Fleming said in a statement. "We got guys we feel have a chance to make an impact.''

West, who had said he would go on to college if not taken in the first five rounds, now expects to sign with the Marlins.

"I think there's a pretty good chance," he says. "It will take a few days, but I hope to get it settled in a couple of days and not have it linger on. They're talking to my advisor right now and trying to discuss all the options."

As the day unfolded, West and his family watched the draft via Internet updates, finally seeing his name in the early afternoon.

"I was pretty excited," he says. "We watched it on the computer and saw my name come up and everybody was freaking out. The area scout (Ryan Fox) called and congratulated us."

Though West says he still could go on to college at San Jacinto in Texas, he wants to move on to his professional career. He hopes to be at the Marlins' spring training camp on June 20 in Jupiter, Fla.

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