Vitters getting the career on track in Boise

June 7, 2007 was a historic day in baseball, and Boise Hawks third baseman Josh Vitters was a big part of it.

The day marked the first time the Major League Baseball Draft was televised, and Vitters was the first player to pose with commissioner Bud Selig after he was selected third overall by the Chicago Cubs.

"It was the most exciting thing that's ever happened in my life," said Vitters, who held up a Cubs jersey and wore the team's hat and a wide smile that day at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla. "It was great being up on the stage for the first televised draft."
Vitters will have to wait before he is back in a Cubs' uniform.

He was set back by tendinitis in his left hand earlier this season while playing at low Class A Peoria (Ill.). He rehabbed at extended spring training in Mesa, Ariz., and will jumpstart his first full professional baseball season with the Hawks in the short-season Northwest League.

Vitters is the highest drafted player assigned to Boise in the eight years the Hawks have been affiliated with the Cubs.

Vitters and the Hawks open the season Tuesday night against Eugene. First pitch is 7:15 at Memorial Stadium.

Hawks fans got a glimpse of Vitters in the final seven games last season. He hit just .118 (6-for-51) in 14 games in Mesa and Boise, where he went 4-for-21.

"This past year, there's been a lot of ups and downs, just being drafted so high and starting out a little slow because I didn't play since my high school season," he said. "So that brought me down a little bit I guess. I'm definitely ready to go this season and have a good season."

Vitters has not been told how long he'll play in Boise. Cubs management wouldn't say so, either. But one thing is for sure, the Cubs are very high on the 18-year-old.

"He's got tons of ability," Cubs farm director Oneri Fleita said. "He's got great hands, he's got great bat speed and all the ability in the world to play third base and be an impact player."
Baseball America ranked Vitters the Cubs' top power hitting prospect and No. 1 prospect overall - ahead of players such as Chicago's starting catcher Geovany Soto. Before last year's draft, the same publication named Vitters the closest high school player to the major leagues and the top pure hitter in the draft.

Just one year removed from his senior year of high school in Cypress, Calif., Vitters said he likes the expectations that come with such high praise.

"It's something that I definitely like," he said. "I've always played well in pressure type situations. I think I thrive with that kind of thing following me around."

There was a time when Vitters didn't know if he could handle the rapid jump from high school to professional baseball. Vitters, who signed late for $3.2 million, struggled against older players in his first exposure to professional baseball.

"After he signed he was in Arizona and he's facing these guys 24- and 25-years-old throwing 95 (mph) and he was like, 'I can't handle it,' " Cypress High baseball coach John Weber said.
But Weber, who has coached five players who eventually played in the major leagues, said if there's one player who will make it, it's Vitters.

"I've been around some pretty good players," Weber said. "It's absolutely different. There's some special things in his bat that you don't see on a day-to-day basis.

"He's a guy that I think is going to be able to hit 30 jacks in the big leagues and still compete for a batting title. He's a pretty special player."

Boise Hawks manager Tom Beyers agreed. "I'm going to look forward to watching him play," Beyers said.