Nine days after the Major League Baseball draft, N.C. State is without six starters from 2006 and sits on the verge of losing a seventh. Aaron Bates, Jon Still, Gib Hobson, Jonathan Diaz, Matt Camp and Brian Aragon are gone, as junior closer Sam Walls contemplates an offer from the Philadelphia Phillies. Junior pitcher Jeff Stallings, who missed last season after Tommy John surgery, said he didn’t plan on signing with the San Francisco Giants, who drafted him No. 536 overall in the 18th round.”The biggest part of it was that I haven’t fulfilled my dream of going to Omaha [to play in the College World Series],” Stallings said. “Our pitching staff will be really strong next year with Andrew Brackman, Eric Surkamp, Eryk McConnell and hopefully myself. We could have one of the best staffs in the ACC next season.” State did, however, lose its ace from 2006, 6-foot-3 righthander Gib Hobson, who was drafted No. 326 overall by the Giants. Hobson said he was currently training in Arizona.Junior shortstop Jonathan Diaz, who became a fixture between second and third base for the Wolfpack after walking onto the team as a freshman, signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday afternoon. Diaz said the team was poised to give him $45,000 to sign, plus it will pay for the rest of his education, which Diaz said is worth $24,000. The Blue Jays drafted Diaz in the 12th round, No. 360 overall. “I felt like I was ready to jump to pro ball, and as a senior playing college baseball, there is a lot of risk for an injury,” Diaz said.Diaz, who only hit .255 in his junior season, said he knows he’ll have to prove himself as a legitimate batter as a professional baseball player. “I still need to prove myself as a hitter,” he said. “But a college baseball season is really long enough to prove yourself. I may go back to switch hitting in the pros, just to give myself another weapon.”While six players are signed already, and one is confident he will return to State for another year, junior closer Sam Walls said he’s still struggling with his decision. “This is really tough. I feel like I’m ready physically and mentally,” Walls said. “It’s really indescribable. You dream about this when you’re a kid, and now it’s finally coming true.” But it’s easier said than done for Walls, who said he can’t ignore how good he feels the State pitching staff could be next year — a staff on which he would maintain his role as the primary closer. “It’s extremely attractive. We’ve got four guys who could each be Friday night starters,” he said. “And as the closer, it’d be in a situation where every single pitch mattered. I like that about closing — there’s a rush every time you take the mound that wasn’t always there when you started.” In the end, Walls said he is leaning towards signing with the Phillies, who Walls said are offering him a signing bonus in the neighborhood of $75,000. He said it’s important to him to be able to have money to return to school, invest and to have some left over to spend. The Phillies are not, Walls said, pressuring him into making a decision.”Everyone I’ve talked to in the organization has been so friendly to me,” Walls said. “They know how hard of a decision this is to make.”