D'Alessio ponders jump to pro ranks

Andy D’Alessio knows his next big decision — sign as a 10th-round pick to the Los Angeles Dodgers or return for his senior season at Clemson University — won’t be easy. It won’t be one he’ll make until after his junior baseball season is done.

The way the Tigers are playing, that decision may be a while.

D’Alessio, a former Barron Collier baseball standout, and the Tigers have at least one more weekend, as they host Oral Roberts University in the NCAA super regionals. A win in that best-of-three series would send Clemson to Omaha for the College World Series.

With that in mind, D’Alessio said Wednesday that any contract talks with the Dodgers will come when he can focus completely on those talks.

“I’ll make that decision when the season’s over,” he said. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. It’s a more difficult decision.”

D’Alessio found himself in nearly the exact same position Tuesday as he was in 2003, when the Cincinnati Reds picked him in the 10th round. He was the 291st overall pick then and the 293rd overall pick Tuesday. He’s hit 22 home runs with 80 RBIs for Clemson this season.

“I felt I had a pretty solid year,” D’Alessio said. “From what I was hearing, I thought I had the opportunity to go a little higher in the draft. But obviously, the draft is a crapshoot. Everyone says you can go in the top three rounds and you might end up in the bottom three rounds.

“The good thing is that I’m still playing,” he added. “That’s what I’m going to focus on.”

Oral Roberts (42-14) advanced as the No. 3 seed out of the Fayetteville (Ark.) regional, beating Arkansas and Oklahoma State to do it. D’Alessio said ORU is a team with solid bats and a good pitching staff. The Tigers (50-14) are the top seed in the college baseball tournament and D’Alessio did his part to help Clemson win its regional. He was named to the regional all-tournament team after hitting two home runs with five RBIs.

“The ACC tournament wasn’t one of my stronger weeks,” D’Alessio said. “I made a couple of adjustments between then and the regional and I really feel like my swing is coming around at the right time.”

The right time for talking contracts will be after Clemson’s season ends. D’Alessio wants to learn about the entire Dodgers organization, from the minors on up, to make sure his decision, one he wants to research and make for himself, will be the right one.

“I want to sit down and look at both sides of the story,” D’Alessio said. “It’s a decision that’s going to take a little more time.”