2013 Orioles Draft Live Blog:
UPDATES ON THE ORIOLES' SELECTIONS IN THE 2013 AMATEUR DRAFT
June 08, 2013|By Daniel Gallen | The Baltimore Sun
Follow along for updates throughout Friday and Saturday on the Orioles' selections in the 2013 MLB draft.
The Orioles selected 41 players in the 2013 MLB draft. A quick breakdown is as follows:
(UPDATED: Saturday, 7:38 p.m.)
College players: 23
Junior college players: 4
High school players: 14
Left-handed pitchers: 11
Right-handed pitchers: 12
Catchers: 4
Corner infielders: 4
Shortstops: 5
Outfielders: 5
Baseball America's Top 500 prospects: 16
Average rank: 223
(UPDATED: Saturday, 7:27 p.m.)
Garrett Cortright, LHP, Canisius
Round 40, No. 1,209 overall
Report: Cortright was Canisius' top starter, as he went 11-4 with a 2.41 ERA in 16 starts. He threw five complete games and one shutout. He also threw 115 2/3 innings, allowing 96 hits and striking out 76 batters for the MAAC champions.
Augey Bill, LHP, Arizona
Round 39, No. 1,179 overall
Report: Another reliever, Bill had a team-low 1.98 ERA and 4-1 record for the Wildcats. He made 26 appearances and recorded two saves. Bill struck out 12 batters in 27 1/3 innings, and opponents batted .220 against him. He is a redshirt junior and has another year of eligibility remaining.
Conor Harber, RF, Western Nevada Community College
Round 38, No. 1,149 overall
Report: Harber batted .393 in 56 games for Western Nevada. He hit two home runs, knocked in 37 RBIs, scored 50 runs and stole 14 bases. He had eight three-hit games this season.
Justin Viele, SS, Santa Clara University
Round 37, No. 1,119 overall
Report: Viele started all 53 of Santa Clara's games in 2013, batting .248 with two home runs and 17 RBIs. He had a .364 on-base percentage and was 12-for-15 on stolen base attempts.
Eric Green, LHP, Embry-Riddle University
Round 36, No. 1,089 overall
Report: Green was Embry-Riddle's top reliever in 2013. In 30 appearances, he went 6-0 with a 0.83 ERA and 11 saves. He allowed 26 hits and struck out 59 in 43 1/3 innings. Prior to playing for Embry-Riddle, he played for St. Petersburg Community College and College of Central Florida.
(UPDATED: Saturday, 6:27 p.m.)
D.J. McKnight, CF, Madison County (Fla.) High School
Round 35, No. 1,059 overall
Report: McKnight, who also played quarterback in high school, hit .358 in 29 games this spring. He knocked in 34 RBIs while also posting an on-base percentage of .486.
Parker Bugg, RHP, Rancho Bernardo (Calif.) High School
Round 34, No. 1,029 overall
Report: Bugg is a Louisiana State commitment who boasts a 90 mph fastball and a 6-foot-6 frame. As a junior, he had a 2.28 ERA in more than 58 innings. Bugg also spearheads a San Diego campaign called "Strike Out Sex Offenders."
Jeff Kemp, SS, Radford
Round 33, No. 999 overall
Report: A Bowie native and Archbishop Spalding graduate, Kemp batted .284 with a team-high 10 home runs and 34 RBIs in 2013. He also reached base at a .444 clip as he started 44 of the 45 games he appeared in. For his career, he had two season batting at least .300 (his freshman and redshirt junior years), and he finished his career with 23 home runs.
Max Homick, LHP, University of San Diego
Round 32, No. 969 overall
Report: Homick was San Diego's top reliever in 2013, compiling a 5-2 record and 3.34 ERA while recording six saves. He struck out 57 batters in 70 innings, and opponents batted 2.67 against him. His sophomore season — he still has two years of eligibility remaining — marked drastic improvement from his freshman campaign, when he was 1-0 with a 7.24 ERA.
Dustin Hagy, RHP, Trinity Christian Academy (Fla.)
Round 31, No. 939 overall
Report: At 6-foot-6, Hagy boasts a 92 mph fastball and is signed with State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. Hagy went 7-5 this spring with a 3.00 ERA. He struck out 88 batters in 65 2/3 innings.
(UPDATED: Saturday, 5:21 p.m.)
Federico Castagnini, SS, Creighton
Round 30, No. 909 overall
Report: Castagnini batted .320 in 44 starts for Creighton this season. He had nine extra-base hits and reached base at a .395 clip. In the field, he had a .945 fielding percentage. In 2012, Castagnini starred at Barton Community College, batting .361 with six home runs and 67 RBIs.
Conor Bierfeldt, OF, Western Connecticut State
Round 29, No. 879 overall
Report: Bierfeldt was a third-team All-America selection in Division III. He hit .396 with nine home runs, 54 RBIs, 16 doubles, four triples and a .506 on-base percentage. Bierfeldt also pitched for Western Connecticut State as a senior.
Robert Tyler, RHP, Crisp County (Ga.) High School
Round 28, No. 849 overall
Report: A Georgia commitment and Baseball America's No. 194 prospect, Tyler has touched 95 mph with his fastball. He was 8-1 with a 1.99 ERA and struck out 64 batters in 56 1/3 innings. At as a first baseman, he batted .372 with a .517 on-base percentage and 39 RBIs.
Donnie Hart, LHP, Texas State
Round 27, No. 819 overall
Report: Hart led Texas State with a 2.13 ERA in 41 relief appearances. He struck out 34 batters and allowed 32 hits in 42 1/3 innings, and batters hit .209 off of him. He has another year of eligibility remaining.
MLB Draft Recap: Five with Rancho Bernardo High Ties Get Picked; Two Poway Grads Selected
By Michael Bower
The Broncos had five players chosen – two current and three former – in the 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, which aired live on the MLB Network Thursday and concluded Saturday with the 40th round.
Arizona State right-handed pitcher Trevor Williams, a 2010 Rancho Bernardo graduate, was selected by the Miami Marlins with the 44th overall pick and Broncos senior second baseman Gosuke Katoh was taken by the New York Yankees with the 66th overall pick. Both selections were made in the second round.
“I was sitting on the couch waiting around and I wasn’t expecting my name to be called …,” Katoh said of the moment leading up to his selection. “…Then I looked up at the TV and they said ‘with the 66th pick, the Yankees select Gosuke Katoh and I couldn’t believe it.”
James Dykstra (2010 Rancho Bernardo graduate), Max Homick (2011) and Parker Bugg (2013) rounded out the players with Broncos’ ties selected by Major League Baseball organizations.
Parker Bugg. File photo
“It is pretty cool to have five kids get drafted,” said the right-handed pitcher Bugg, who was taken by the Baltimore Orioles in the 34th round (1,029th overall). “It just kind of shows that after we leave RB we keep going. Everyone seems to put themselves in a pretty good position whether they are coming out of high school or college. A lot of high schools get one and it is cool, but having five is insane.”
Dykstra, a Cal State San Marcos senior right-handed pitcher was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the sixth round (183rd overall) and Homick, a University of San Diego sophomore left-handed pitcher, was taken by the Baltimore Orioles in the 32nd round (969 overall).
Williams, who will get a contract offer worth more than a million dollars, and Homick both have the option to return to their respective colleges rather than sign with the teams that drafted them. Bugg has the option to take his scholarship to Louisiana State University or sign with the Orioles.
“It is a great honor to be drafted no matter if you are the first pick or the last pick; it means someone wants you,” said Bugg, who missed the last half of the season after discovering he had a stress fracture in his foot. “I also am honored to be in this position, where I have to make a choice.”
Katoh, who signed a scholarship to UCLA earlier this year, as of Saturday had not inked his name on a pro contract with the Yankees, which should be worth at least $780,000. But the 6-foot, 2-inch, 180-pound left-handed hitter and right-handed thrower seems to have his heart set on joining the Yankees’ organization.
“If everything works out like it should with no road bumps, then I should be a Yankee by next week,” he said last Thursday.
Poway graduates Austin Wynns and Brett Thomas were also selected in the draft. Wynns, a catcher at Fresno State and 2009 graduate of Poway, was taken by the Baltimore Orioles in the 10th round (309th overall). Thomas, a junior outfielder at the University of Oregon and a 2010 graduate of Poway, was taken by the Seattle Mariners in the 21st round (627th overall).
Wynns, who was a walk-on at Fresno State before earning a scholarship, hit .279 with three homers and 12 doubles in his senior season for the Bulldogs. He also threw out 50-percent of base stealers from behind the plate.
Thomas hit .317 with two home runs and 15 doubles for the Ducks this season. He has the option to return to college for another year or sign with the Mariners. The deadline to sign pro contracts for players selected in the First-Year Player Draft is July 12.