After a hot, 9-1 stretch run, Stanford baseball found itself back at .500 to finish the season, avoiding what would have been just the second losing season in Mark Marquess’ 31-year tenure at the helm of the Cardinal program.

Given the number of outstanding individual performances over that span, on the surface it would seem that several key contributors could be headed for big paydays in today’s annual MLB Draft.

But this year, more than ever, the draft is full of uncertainty for a Stanford program looking to work its way back to the top of the Pacific-10 Conference, despite finishing on such a high note.

“The problem is you don’t know who’s there watching,” Marquess said. “You could have a great performance, but if the right organization or the right person in that organization isn’t there to see you, you might as well be doing it in the wilderness.”

It’s an issue that the Cardinal has not recently faced because of the team’s usual high level of performance, as well as the highly touted major-league prospects that usually populate its roster. Last year, when starter Greg Reynolds went second overall to the Colorado Rockies, his prominence on the national scene led to the discovery of a number of lesser-known players. In 2007, however, no single player attracted nearly as much attention.

“Last year, when everybody in the world — every scouting director or general manager was there to see Reynolds — when they saw Reynolds, they saw [Chris] Minaker [‘06],” Marquess said. “You could have [juniors] Michael Taylor and Nolan Gallagher play lights out at USC, but nobody’s there to see them.”

“Obviously, it would have been a lot easier to get guys out here and watch us play if we’d played better,” junior starter Erik Davis added. “It was brutal to watch games sometimes [this year] as a player, let alone as a fan, so I don’t blame them for not coming. But I think it will work out for everybody, one way or another, and that’s all that matters.”

Marquess listed a pair of right handers, Gallagher and Davis, junior catcher Brian Juhl, and junior infielder Adam Sorgi as players who could all hear their names called today and tomorrow as major-league teams look to build for the future and fill up their minor-league systems.

But even the players selected could opt to return for their senior seasons, in hopes of going higher in 2008. After a very mediocre 2007 team season, that’s a decision a lot of players could be facing by this weekend.

“The problem is deciding whether to come back after your junior year if it’s not enough money, and then work for it your senior year,” Marquess said. “And that’s a decision they have to make with their families. As crazy as it sounds, I’m really not that involved in that decision — that’s something they make personally.”

One player who could find himself making such a decision is Davis, who returned this season from a career-threatening injury when a hard line drive hit him in the face during a Cape Cod League game almost a year ago.

The story of Davis’ injury and subsequent recovery was well detailed in an ESPN.com story by Mark Kreidler in May. After pitching well down the stretch, Davis may be ready to write the next chapter in his baseball career in the pros, depending upon where he lands in the draft.

“I’m proud of myself,” Davis said. “I came back from a pretty rough injury, and I accomplished more than a lot of people, and even myself, could have imagined. I can look back at this season maybe not as being a complete success, but in some ways as being a pretty good year for myself, personally. But, obviously, I would have taken a good year for the team over that.”

The Stanford player who is likely to have his name called high enough to definitely warrant going pro is Taylor, who hit .335 with a team-leading 59 RBI and tied for the team lead with 12 homers on the year. The strong-armed right fielder is expecting to go in the draft’s first five rounds based, in part, on his own scorching finish to the 2006 season; he raised his batting average by 40 points in less than a month.

“I think that there are a number of teams that are very interested in my ceiling and my abilities and some of the talents that God blessed me with,” Taylor said. “It seems right now that the interest is coming between the rounds of two and five, in that area, and I think that all depends on the game that teams are going to be playing. Obviously, it’s in their best interest to get you for as little money as possible, but at the same time they’re vying against 10 to 12 other teams.”

Based solely on his physical dimensions and tools, let alone his fantastic and steadily improving statistics, Taylor has a lot of major-league teams eyeing his potential to be a dominant power hitter in the pros.

“I think his potential is unlimited, because he’s [6-foot-6, 260 pounds] and not slow,” Marquess said. “[He’s] got a strong arm in right field that has really developed as a fielder. There was a lot of concern about his ability to play outfield defensively when he first started, but I think he alleviated some of those concerns. And the great thing you can project pro-baseball-wise is he improved his power every year, [in terms of] using the strength that he has — the home runs he hit were monstrous home runs.”

Taylor plans to take it easy on draft day, engaging in what is becoming a yearly ritual for Stanford baseball: having breakfast as the guys learn about their fellow college players, and even some of the Cardinal’s own, being selected by the MLB.

Intending to “just sit back and relax and wait for my name to get called,”Taylor also hopes to celebrate over lunch.

“It’s a very awkward, weird process, especially the baseball draft,” Taylor said. “So really, I’m just ready for the opportunity to go out and play. And I feel like, wherever I’m taken, it’s going to be in a position where the team is severely interested in me eventually making their major-league club. So, I’m really excited about that opportunity and playing pro baseball everyday with a wood bat.”

The draft will be televised nationally for the first time today, with coverage on ESPN2. The Cardinal will also be watching for the selection of highly touted, high-school left hander Jack McGeary, who has committed to Stanford but could opt to turn pro instead. The latest rumors, though, have McGeary leaning toward attending Stanford in the fall.