With the first pick of the second round (50th overall), the Washington Nationals select … Cal second baseman Jeff Kobernus.

Turns out the scouts weren’t lying to Bears coach David Esquer when they told him Kobernus wouldn’t last past the third round. Kobernus is a tall, lanky middle infielder with good range who helped his own cause by spending the last month or so of the 2009 season in an unconscious state every time he picked up a bat.

And as we speak, Bears right fielder/first baseman/designated hitter/pitcher Blake Smith is drafted with the 56th overall pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Smith and Jackson were the ones who got all the hype going into 2009, Smith mostly because of his performance last summer with the Team USA Collegiate National Team.

Back to Kobernus for a minute — this is a guy who really has flown under the radar during his career at Cal. He was a freshman All-American after he hit .331 and stole 13 bases two years ago. His average went down and his strikeouts came up as a sophomore, but he still swiped 11 bags and started to hit for power a little more. Everything came together in his junior season, as he brought the average back up to .341 and hit eight home runs — double his career total entering 2009. He also had the green light on the basepaths and made teams pay, making good on 20 of his 24 steal attempts.

And he did all of this while being probably the most flexible asset that Cal had in terms of where Esquer put him. He played a different position in each of his three seasons and was all over the lineup, spending time in the leadoff, third and cleanup spots as a junior. Good to see a talent like that get recognized.

The lat injury that kept Smith from pitching during the second half of the 2009 season, meanwhile, apparently didn’t have much of an effect on his draft status. Smith, a right-hander from Modesto, Calif., who has touched 97 mph on the gun with his fastball, was listed by most mock drafts and by ESPN as a pitcher rather than a right fielder — the spot where most Cal fans were used to seeing him at Evans Diamond.

Smith has pop in his bat, no doubt, but his potential on the mound seems to be what major league teams are more interested in, and he told Jonathan Okanes of the Contra Costa Times that he would likely go earlier as a pitcher than as an outfielder.

Photos: (Kobernus): Victoria Chow, The Daily Californian/File
(Smith): Lara Brucker, The Daily Californian/File