ATWATER -- In his line of work, to be successful, Richard Ruiz has to be objective and shrewd when evaluating talent.
The fate of his baseball team depends on it.
But rare are the moments when owners and general managers are reduced to a stars-in-your-eyes fan.
That was Ruiz, the Atwater Aviators' head honcho, last Saturday night with local dynamo Dylan Floro on the bump.
The Cal State Fullerton freshman didn't disappoint in his first start for the Aviators, striking out 11 batters in an 8-4 victory over the California Glory.
"Let's put it this way, I got his autograph," said Ruiz, whose team has won eight straight to improve to 11-13. "Everyone knows that he has a good career ahead of him.
"It helps us and hopefully, it helps him to pitch for us. We're looking forward to him wearing that uniform."
Don't get too excited, Aviators fans.
Like David Rohm, the reigning team MVP who left the club shortly after being taken in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, Floro's stay in Atwater could be short.
Really short.
He and former Buhach Colony teammate Brett Mooneyham have been selected to the collegiate national team trials roster.
The two will join 36 other freshmen and sophomores from around the country in Cary, N.C. from July 6-11.
There, they'll compete for a spot on the 22-man roster which will compete at the World University Championships in August.
"That just shows the caliber of ballplayers we have in this area and that have come through the school system in Merced County," said Aviators manager Rollo Adams, who coached both en route to American Legion state championships with the Merced Volunteers.
"Being teammates and growing up together for so long, it would be nice to see them reunited one more time."
The selection process will be grueling, with six days of intrasquad scrimmages planned. Nineteen pitchers have been invited to camp.
Mooneyham helped Stanford reach the postseason this past spring.
The tall left-hander was just 3-7 on the season with a 5.07 ERA, but his overall numbers were misleading.
After a poor start, Mooneyham, a freshman All-American a year ago, was 3-4 with a 3.82 ERA in his final 12 regular-season outings.
Floro's stock has been on the rise since debuting out of the bullpen for the four-time national champions at the beginning of the season.
The right-hander eventually earned a spot in the starting rotation, finishing out the season with a 7-2 record and a
3.26 ERA.
He had two complete games, two saves and 69 strikeouts to just 11 walks.
Floro started three NCAA postseason games, including the decisive games in the Regional and Super Regional series.
In those starts, he allowed 10 earned runs in 15 innings, fanning 14 while giving up 23 hits.
He'll likely make even fewer starts for the Aviators, the reigning Pacific West Baseball League champions.
Adams is at the mercy of Cal State Fullerton head coach Dave Serrano, who doubles as the national team's pitching coach.
Serrano is dictating Floro's pre-camp workouts.
"I do what Dave says," Adams said with a chuckle. "It's a wait-and-see kind of thing. ... If (Floro) needs another tuneup, I'm more than willing to give it to him."
That Floro landed in Atwater for the summer -- and not the Cape Cod, like Mooneyham (Yarmouth-Dennis), a popular destination for touted up-and-comers -- was a boon for the Aviators.
On Saturday, several Floro-only fans lined the stands at Memorial. Many, Ruiz said, appeared to be a first-time visitors.
"Hopefully they watch him pitch, they see us play and think, 'Hey, let's go out to these games,' " he said.
"More and more, as time goes on, everybody will know about us."
The players should benefit from Floro's cameo appearance, too.
"Especially the pitchers," Adams said. "They just saw a kid come out after pitching in the Super Regional, who hadn't picked up a ball in two weeks. A kid who constantly pounded the strikezone, getting ahead of hitters. And he competed.
"That's one thing I'm constantly harping on them about -- competing on a daily basis. Hopefully, some of them will see that, take it back to their programs and use it when they're competing for a starting job."
James Burns is managing editor/sports editor of the Sun-Star. He can be reached at jburns@mercedsun-star.com.
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