Wallace likely to join fellow Sonoman Everidge in big leagues

In the what-are-the-odds department, Sonoma’s Tommy Everidge made his major-league debut with the A’s the same night that Sonoma’s Brett Wallace played his first home game with the A’s Triple-A club in Sacramento.

While a large group of family and friends, including Sonoma State baseball coach John Goelz, made the trek to Fenway Park to see Everidge, a good portion of Sonoma traveled to Raley Field to see Wallace.

The two Valley of the Moon products even have some of the same physical characteristics.

Upon looking at his former summer semipro teammate, A’s pitcher Dallas Braden said of Everidge, “He looks like someone trying to smuggle two kegs into a building under his T-shirt.”

Wallace, the 13th player taken in the 2008 draft by St. Louis, has been described as the next Bob Horner, a hitting-oriented third baseman with the Braves in the 1980s.

Everidge and Wallace were considered good athletes in high school. Everidge was a lineman on the football team for three years.

Wallace also pitched for Justin-Siena High in Napa, in addition to producing some of the longest home runs ever seen in the Marin County Athletic League. He was also a very good basketball player and some wondered how good a football player he would have been.

The most significant difference between the two were their evaluations as prospects. Everidge was one of Sonoma State’s best-ever hitters, before Wallace became a two-time Pac-10 Triple Crown winner at Arizona State. Everidge was drafted in the 10th round by the A’s, who obviously were torn over choosing between second baseman Jemile Weeks and Wallace. They took Weeks one pick before Wallace went to the Cardinals.

Last week, the A’s remedied their losing Wallace by obtaining him, along with two other players from the Cardinals, for Matt Holliday.

Everidge seemed lost in the minors until just a couple of months ago when his first promotion to Triple-A, at age 26, led to an incredible hitting spree and a big-league call-up.

Most believe it’s just a matter of a few months until Wallace is in the big leagues, whether as a September call-up or beginning next spring training when it should be known whether Eric Chavez can still play third base.

“I just think he’s something special,” Bill Isetta said of Wallace, who turns 23 later this month. Isetta was Wallace’s Little League coach and saw Wallace wreak havoc on Marin Catholic when Isetta was principal of the parochial school in Kentfield.

Isetta’s sons played with Wallace on the Sonoma Valley Bears, definitely not the Bad News Bears.

Wallace was such a good player, at age 9 he started at shortstop and batted third, playing against 12-year-olds. “Even that young you could tell there was something special about him,” Isetta said.

Just as memorable as all the home runs Wallace hit was his ability to come through at game-deciding moments. And it was before his high school days when Wallace walked about as many times as pitchers allowed him to hit.

“If you needed a big hit or needed a play made, you wanted it to be Brett,” Isetta said. “He loved those situations. At bat, you couldn’t get him out.”

Isetta has heard the early hitting comparisons between Wallace and a young Jason Giambi. Similar body types and both are left-handed batters.

Wallace is already projected as a No. 3 or 4 hitter in the major leagues; in less than a full season in the minors, he hasn’t hit below .280 at any of his stops, from low Class A to Triple-A.

Wallace is patient at the plate and has always had a good on-base percentage, especially attractive to the A’s.

Wallace saw brief time with the Cardinals in spring training and put on one notable performance hitting home runs in a batting-practice stint. Tony La Russa, however, isn’t a big fan of rookies, and word is he was advising the front office to acquire more veteran hitters to win the NL Central.

Isetta takes little credit for helping Wallace become a pitcher’s nightmare. As a coach, he stressed fundamentals and learning game situations.

“He ate that stuff up,” Isetta said of Wallace. “At a young age, he got it. He was the best kid I ever coached, but he also wanted to learn and he was very humble.”

Isetta gets a little angry when he reads that Wallace is “a great bat in a bad body.”

“He played first base as a sophomore at Arizona State and they asked him to play third as a junior. He just moved over there and became Pac-10 player of the year,” Isetta said.

“I’ll say it right now. He’s not going to be an average third baseman, he’s going to be a good third baseman. I just know he takes a lot of pride in playing baseball and he’s going to work hard at it.”

You can reach Staff Writer Rich Rupprecht at 521-5275 or rich.rupprecht@pressdemocrat.com.