A new Dodger

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The sale of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball hats in New Ulm got a big boost in the arm Wednesday afternoon when Jamie Hoffmann signed a professional baseball contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Hoffmann was signed by former New Ulmite and Assistant to the General Manager of the Dodgers, Jeff Schugel.

Terms of Hoffmann's contract were not disclosed. He will report to the Dodgers' Instructional League in Vero Beach, Florida within the next few weeks.

"I am excited," said Hoffmann, who becomes the 14th New Ulm baseball player to sign a professional baseball contract.

He is also the fourth player from New Ulm to sign with the Dodgers following Dick Spelbrink, Dave Ramnes and Jerry Fesenmaier.

Hoffmann, who had signed a Div. I hockey Letter of Intent to Colorado College, said that "hockey before presented a better opportunity to pay for college, but now baseball has come forward with some money and also will pay for college ... if things don't work out."

However, if things don't work out and Hoffmann goes to college, he will be unable to play college baseball.

"Usually I just went with whatever season I was in, now, I went with whatever offer was better," Hoffmann said. "This is seemingly better than hockey would have been."

Hoffmann contacted Colorado College Wednesday evening to inform them of his decision.

In Hoffmann's senior year at New Ulm High School, he was the Minnesota Class AAA Baseball Player of the Year. In the 2002 State AAA tournament he led the Eagles to their first state baseball title, setting a state record going 10-for-11 in the state tournament.

Also that year, he was picked the MVP of the Chicago Showcase Hockey Tournament.

But Hoffmann, who was set to leave for Colorado College next week, said that baseball became more of an option as this season went along.

"Just playing baseball this summer, I still thought that I was still going out [to Colorado College], but towards the end of this baseball season, I started to get looks from major league teams," he said. He said that after the legion tournament, he talked to a couple of teams which he chose not to disclose, as well as the Twins and Jeff Schugel of the Dodgers.

Schugel said that he heard about Hoffmann from "some people back here. But it was kind of ironic that coming back to New Ulm for the reunion [of the 1978 New Ulm American Legion Baseball team that went to the Legion World Series in Yakima, Washington] I got a chance to watch Jamie play a couple of games."

Schugel was able to watch Hoffmann play in the Legion Central Plains Regional Tournament.

Schugel said that Hoffmann "really opened my eyes as a baseball player. I contacted our people -- tried to stay a little bit low-key with all the [11 major league scouts] that were here. I did not really want to tip my hand. But this regional tournament was the first time that I saw him play baseball."

And Schugel came away impressed.

"There were a combination of things that I liked," Schugel said. "First off is his athleticism, and second, he is going to hit. I think that he is going to have a big bat. Third is his mental make-up; he has that special make-up and that is what it takes to get to the big leagues."

Schugel felt that the reason that Hoffmann was not drafted in baseball and instead was selected this year in the eighth round by the Carolina Hurricane in the National Hockey League draft, was "a case of a small town kid who maybe got overlooked.

"I know that the [Major League] Scouting Bureau was going to put him in for the draft, but apparently the timing was wrong -- they did not get his ID number in -- they were a day late," Schugel said. "I think that it was a big miss by some people. It is unfortunate that he did not get drafted, but I think that, in the end, it worked out the best."

Now a shortstop, Schugel foresees Hoffmann staying at shortstop.

"Initially, we will send him down to Instructional League in a couple of weeks," he said. "He will get acclimated a little bit over at third base. For me, I think that his future is over at third base -- maybe corner outfield.

"I think that Jamie could have played at any D-I school in country for baseball," he said. "There will be some people sorry that they missed him in baseball."

Other New Ulm baseball players who have signed with major league teams are Jerry Gleisner, Twins; Larry Jensen, Cincinnati; Kevin Wilner, Mets; Tom Steinbach, Seattle; Jeff Schugel, Twins; Doug Palmer, Twins; Terry Steinbach, Oakland; Brian Raabe, Twins; Andy Hammerschmidt, San Diego; Aaron Heitzman, Houston.

-Jen Seavey contributed to this article.