There was plenty of Miner representation in this year’s MLB First Year Player draft. Last year’s team had three players drafted led by Garrett Richards (Oklahoma). The right handed power pitcher was taken 42nd overall by the Los Angeles Angels. The next Miner taken was another rightie pitcher in Charles Ruiz (Cal St. Long Beach) from last year’s squad. He went 301st to the Colorado Rockies. The Florida Marlins then swooped down to snatch two former Miners in outfielder Kyle Jensen (St. Mary’s CA) from the 2008 team and leftie pitcher Jared Eskew (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) from 2007 with the 368th and 878th pick respectively.
There were also 2 current Miners selected by MLB teams in the latter rounds of the draft. Outfielder DJ Gentile (Cal Poly) led the Miners in batting average in ‘08 and was chosen in the 43rd round by the Cleveland Indians. Third baseman Shane Brown (Central Florida) followed Gentile being taken by the Yankees in the 48th round of the draft.
Gentile is not yet with the squad as he is still finishing up classes, but both of these players would be greatly missed by Mat-Su if they decide to sign with minor league teams. Gentile brings a consistent bat with a lot of power that would be great in the 3, 4, or 5 holes in the order. Brown has already showed great range at 3rd base in just the first 2 games of the season and backs that up with a strong bat that can hit for average and power. Brown fills a hole at third that no one else on this team could fill quite as well.
I had a chance to catch up with Shane to get his thoughts on being taken in the draft, so check out the link to the right to see what he had to say.
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