“If I did decide to sign, I wouldn’t have gotten it fixed. I would have waited a few years,” Farkes said.

A healthy shoulder could help Farkes’ prospects in the 2005 June Draft, for which he is now eligible. According to Walsh, at least one scout this spring noticed that Farkes’ velocity across the infield—a measure of an infielder’s arm strength—had fallen almost 10 m.p.h. since high school, from the low 90s to the low 80s.

A full recovery should boost Farkes, who has played second base, shortstop and third base for the Crimson, back to his previous levels, making him significantly more projectable as a Major League infielder.

Any snags in Farkes’ rehab, however, could leave Harvard without arguably its most valuable player when the team opens its season this March.

“It would have been nice for him to have had the surgery in May,” Walsh said. “But how do you take a chance to play in the Cape League away from a kid who has been going out there every day for three years, [playing hurt], and never saying a word?”

Farkes—the 2003 Ivy League Rookie of the Year—was the only Crimson underclassman to be drafted. The reigning Ivy Pitcher of the Year Trey Hendricks ’04 was selected in the 24th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and signed early in June.

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.