Another USC bonus baby

Robert Stock arrived at USC last August at age 16, a situation that inspired major league ribbing. Baseball teammates good-naturedly called the player who skipped his senior year of high school “Savior” and asked if he needed parental permission to attend an R-rated movie.

The 6 foot-3, 190-pound Stock just smiled -- even before he had the braces removed from his teeth in December -- and took it all in stride.

Then the strong-armed catcher-pitcher from Westlake Village went out and showed he belonged.

Stock, who bats left-handed, is hitting .252 with four home runs and 23 runs batted in after the Trojans (27-28 overall, 8-15 in Pacific 10 Conference play) lost the first two games of a three-game series against Stanford. With a fastball that has been clocked in the mid-90s, Stock’s record fell to 2-2 as he took the loss Friday, pitching 5 1/3 innings of relief.

Stock’s statistics are respectable if not awe-inspiring. Former Trojans catcher Jeff Clement, for example, slugged 21 home runs as a freshman in 2003. And current Trojans shortstop Grant Green and UCLA freshman outfielder Gabe Cohen were selected by Pac-10 coaches as co-newcomers of the year.

But Stock said he had no regrets about leaving high school behind and jumping into one of the nation’s best baseball conferences a year ahead of schedule.

“I’ve had to struggle and make adjustments in my game so I haven’t performed up to my expectations, but that’s all right because if it was too easy, what was the point of coming?” said Stock, who turned 17 in November and is thought to be the youngest Division I player in the nation.

If Stock had remained at Agoura High, he would have been projected as a first-round pick in next month’s amateur draft and probably would have commanded a signing bonus of more than $1 million.

But Stock’s family is figuring that he will be a more polished player and closer to major league-ready when he becomes eligible for the draft again after his junior season in 2009.

“He gets the best of both worlds,” said Jim Callis, executive editor of Baseball America magazine, who has tracked college baseball and the draft for nearly 20 years. “He can make a lot of progress toward a degree and he’ll still only be 19 when he’s eligible to be drafted again. ... He gets away with being aggressive on both fronts.”

USC Coach Chad Kreuter expects Stock’s decision to pay off.

“He might be a guy who makes the big leagues as a 20-year-old,” said Kreuter, who retired in 2003 after 16 seasons as a major league catcher.

The NCAA does not track the number of athletes who leave high school early to compete in college sports, but Stock is regarded as perhaps the first baseball player to do so without having graduated or obtained a General Educational Development certificate.

USC has become a destination of choice for the athletically eager and talented. Stock followed USC quarterback John David Booty and basketball player Daniel Hackett as high-profile athletes who decided to forgo their senior years of high school to begin their college careers with the Trojans.

In 2003, Booty completed graduation requirements at Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, La., and arrived in Los Angeles hoping to succeed Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer. But Matt Leinart won the job and Booty did not become the starter until last season. In the fall, he could be a front-runner for the Heisman.

Hackett should have been a senior this school year at Bellflower St. John Bosco High. Instead, he completed graduation requirements last summer and played a prominent role for a Trojans basketball team that advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

Stock was admitted to USC under the school’s Resident Honors Program, which accepts about 30 high-achieving students a year.

A pitch for the program on USC’s website reads: “If you have a proven academic performance, a passion for learning, an insatiable curiosity and a spirit for adventure, why stay in high school another year? Get a jump on your life and start your college career now.”

Stock had the maturity, grade-point average, standardized test scores and, perhaps most telling, the prodigy-type talent to apply.

Baseball America selected him as the top player for his age group every year since he was 13. He made the U.S. junior national team at 14 and last year led Agoura to the Southern Section Division I championship game.

Stock’s father, Gregg, first approached Kreuter with the idea of enrolling under the Resident Honors Program last July, long after USC had committed its available baseball scholarship money. The Stocks agreed to pay their son’s way this year, an investment they are confident will reap dividends after three years of tutelage under Kreuter and competition in the Pac-10.

“On the baseball field, he’s doing fine -- he’s not tearing it up, which is sort of perfect,” Gregg Stock said. “You want a situation where he has to get better and figure out how to adapt and improve.”

Stock also is doing well in the classroom. He earned four Bs during the fall semester and said he finished the spring semester with a 3.0 grade-point average.

“He’s really become a much more outgoing and confident person,” his father said. “To some extent, he was like a lot of teenagers. You could sit in the car for an hour and he’d maybe talk a little bit. But the college environment really sort of brought him out of his shell and other people that know him have the same comment.”

Older teammates marvel at Stock’s physical talent and potential. They also praise his maturity and work ethic.

“He’s not cocky. He doesn’t think he’s better than anyone else,” said closer Paul Koss, a senior who has 16 saves. “He’s humble.”

Stock got off to a solid start, saw his batting average hover around .270 for much of the early part of the season, then raised it to above .300 before dropping back.

Opposing coaches are well aware of the player they must strategize for through 2009.

“He’s a phenomenal talent,” UCLA Coach John Savage said earlier this season. “We’re talking about a guy who’s come into the Pac-10 a year early. To catch and to swing the bat and pitch the way he’s performing is really something.”

Stock said he did not intend to become a pioneer. He was simply following his own trail, which he hopes will include an appearance in the NCAA playoffs. The Trojans are longshots to receive an at-large bid, however, after falling below .500.

Stock will monitor the June 7 draft to track the selection of friends, but said he would not think about what might have been.

“Not one bit,” he said.

Instead, he will continue to focus on what could be in a couple of years.

“The best-case scenario is, I’m a first-round pick, spend a year in the minor leagues and then play major league baseball,” Stock said. “ ... I just have to keep working.”

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