Faith Lutheran graduate picked by Yankees

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 | 4:52 p.m.

Tampa Bay drafts Bishop Gorman star (6/10/09)

Jeffrey Farnham received a phone call from representatives of the St. Louis Cardinals organization Wednesday afternoon during the 18th round of the 2009 MLB Entry Draft.

The Cardinals had shown interest in Farnham, a 2005 Faith Lutheran graduate, most of the spring and informed the catcher they would probably draft him with their next pick.

They proceeded to take two other catchers with their next two selections.

Following the draft online from his home in Las Vegas, Farnham was left to wait and wonder.

The New Mexico State graduate finally got selected in the 27th round by the New York Yankees, which took him with the 825th overall pick.

“I was really relieved when I saw it was the Yankees,” said Farnham, who batted .371 with 13 home runs and 76 RBIs for New Mexico State this spring. “I was pretty pumped up. There is something about the Yankees that makes them special. They are in another class.”

Farnham, who was part of three state championship teams at Faith Lutheran, is the 3A classification school’s first-ever draft pick in its 30-year existence.

“We’ve always had good sports at Faith Lutheran,” Farnham said. “Even though we always had a good team, it felt like we were inferior to 4A schools. Maybe this will put us on the map a little bit.”

Farnham has been working out at Faith Lutheran the past two weeks in anticipation of being drafted. He expects to leave in a few days for the Yankees’ training facility in Florida. With no college eligibility remaining, Farnham knows he won’t receive a significant signing bonus.

He doesn’t care.

“I know (the bonus) isn’t going to be much, maybe a couple of a grand and an airplane ticket to Florida,” he said. “But I would play for free. I just want a fair chance.”

Farnham, who was clocked at 6.9 seconds in the 60-yard dash, is described as an athletic catcher. He led the Western Athletic Conference in batting for parts of this spring and played multiple outfield and infield positions for the Aggies.

“He is just a really hard worker,” Faith Lutheran coach Tony Girod said. “He loves baseball. It’s good to see him have this opportunity.”

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or ray.brewer@lasvegassun.com.