Anxious weekend for Keller, Schebler

By Sunday night he ought to know for sure if he's going to be a Seattle Mariner or Nebraska Cornhusker. But as of now, Jon Keller's baseball future is still uncertain.

The Cedar Rapids Xavier grad was an 11th-round draft pick of the Mariners in June but hasn't signed a professional contract and has until midnight Monday to do so. That's the deadline for major league clubs to sign all their picks.

"We've had three offers but haven't taken any of them," said Al Keller, Jon's dad. "We're still hopeful something will happen, but we're still quite a ways apart."

Al Keller wouldn't say what the family is asking in bonus money. Last month, Cedar Rapids Jefferson shortstop Kellen Sweeney got a $600,000 bonus from the Toronto Blue Jays but was a second-round pick.

Jon Keller has signed with the University of Nebraska and will enroll there if he doesn't turn pro, Al Keller said. That would mean he would have to wait three years to be eligible to be drafted again.

Keller theoretically could enroll at a junior college and be draft eligible again next June.

"This has been kind of tough," Al Keller said of the negotiation process. "A lot of highs and lows."

Two other former Metro preps who were drafted appear headed to college as well. Former Marion and Kirkwood Community College pitcher Patrick Lala was a 29th-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies but said Friday he is planning on enrolling at Iowa instead.

He said the Phillies discussed with him a bonus somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000 but no official offer ever came.

"I think I'm making the right decision," he said about Iowa.

Former Cedar Rapids Prairie outfielder Scott Schebler was a 26th-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers but said at the time he was certain he would be headed to collegiate power Wichita State instead. Schebler played as a freshman at Des Moines Area Community College and has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

But Dodgers scouting director Logan White told the team's official Web site this week that he was confident the club would sign Schebler.

We'll find out if that's true by the end of the weekend.