Luna - Exception to the Rule (5)

ST. LOUIS -- Every December, major league baseball has a lightly publicized redistribution of developing players designed to prevent teams from hoarding talent in their minor league system.

Almost all of the names on the Rule 5 list, players not on a team's 40-man roster with three seasons in professional baseball, never make it big. In 1996, the St. Louis Cardinals plucked Miguel Mejia and he was mostly dead weight all year on the roster for a team that won the NL Central under first-year manager Tony La Russa.

The next seven years, the Cardinals didn't take anyone. Players must remain on the 25-man roster or the disabled list for the entire season or be offered back to their former teams for $25,000, and for a contending team it can be dicey allocating valuable roster space for a prospect.

Hector Luna is one of the rare success stories.

The Cardinals took Luna, 24, from the Indians' organization and he's been a valuable, versatile reserve for the NL Central champions. He's played five positions -- left and center field, third base, shortstop and second base -- and he's been better at the plate than the Cardinals had anticipated even after he won a job with an impressive spring training.

"If a veteran played like he's played this year, we'd be complimenting him for doing a hell of a job," La Russa said. "He's been outstanding."

Luna's average has languished near .200 most of the season. A pair of four-hit games Thursday and Sunday hiked it to .256 with three homers and 22 RBIs in 164 at-bats.

He's also had his share of struggles, such as a two-error game earlier this month.

La Russa prizes him for accepting and making the most out of a limited role, and Luna has no complaints about playing time.

"It's a good situation for me," he said. "I've got a good feel for the manager."

Luna also gets points for being ready whenever he's needed, and for his potential. The Cardinals had him on their potential draft list for two years before they took him. The Devil Rays selected Luna in the 2002 Rule 5 draft, then returned him to Cleveland in April 2003.

"Watching him in spring training it was like 'Wow, look at his hand, look at his arm, I like his stroke,"' La Russa said. "For a big guy he's got above-average speed, and I watched him in the games and he wasn't playing like he was afraid.

"He was worth keeping."

La Russa isn't certain whether Luna, whose favorite position is shortstop, is a potential regular. Luna has played more at third base, subbing for the injured Scott Rolen, or in the outfield.

"I think he has the ability to be a second baseman or shortstop every day," La Russa said. "But he's going to have to show that as well as he's played part-time that he can keep it up.

"You don't know that until someone gives you a shot."

Luna isn't likely to get that shot anytime soon with the Cardinals, who have the best record in the major leagues and don't really have the luxury of being patient with a developing talent right now. Still, they're doing their best to nurture him.

Luna is from the Dominican Republic and speaks in halting English. So the Cardinals put his locker between fellow Latin American ballplayers Edgar Renteria and Albert Pujols to help him make the adjustment.

"It's been good," Luna said. "They've helped me a lot."