In recent times the 49er fandom would complain that the Beach baseball brass was turning out too many major league players and not enough NCAA invites. Not so this year at least on the stocking of MLB teams.
In the Big West Conference’s 2012 MLB class are 18 draftees led by — ta dah! — by UC Santa Barbara with five selections. The Gauchos were followed by Cal Poly and Long Beach State, each with three players selected. The other UCs, Davis and Irvine, each had two players chosen with the chatty Titan faithful joining Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside bragging about one each.
Cal Poly’s versatile Mitch Haniger was the Big West’s lone selection on day one, going in the Compensation A Round as the as 38th overall pick by the Brewers.
Day two saw five players picked up by the major leagues, with 2012 Big West Defensive Player of the Year D.J. Crumlich being the first athlete who was tabbed by the Pittsburgh Pirates’ as their ninth-round choice (286th overall). He was closely followed by Cal Poly’s Mike Miller, who also went in the ninth round to the Boston Red Sox as the 301st overall pick. UC Santa Barbara’s Brett Vertigan went to the Oakland Athletics in the 10th round and was followed by the Twins grabbing Cal State Northridge’s Alex Muren in round 12. Cal State Fullerton starting pitcher and 2012 Big West Pitcher of the Year Dylan Floro closed out day two for the league after Tampa Bay Rays tagged him in the 13th round.
Day three was the busiest for the Big West Conference as 12 players’ dreams of the playing in the Big Leagues moved one step closer. Cal Poly’s Nick Grim kicked off the final day, going in the 17th round to the Baltimore Orioles and bringing the Mustangs’ draft total to three. Next up representing Long Beach State, Matt Duffy was nabbed in the 18th round by the San Francisco Giants. He was the first of three Dirtbags picked up on the third day, with Brennan Metzger also going to the San Francisco Giants (22nd round) and Shawn Stuart heading to the Colorado Rockies (31st).
Of course the draft impacts potential recruits as well, especially some of the top talent that everybody wants. For the Dirtbags that would be pitcher/hitter Ryan McNeil. The web wizards had this to say, “…he went in the 3rd Round (101 overall) to the Cubs – No surprise here. He was our top incoming freshman but is likely to get $400K+ from Chicago.” Another prime pitcher was picked but not nearly as high. David Hill, RHP was selected in the 17th Round (548) Phillies but hopefully would prefer theTroy Buckley College of pitching knowledge over his smallish slot money. The brain trust sees him as a closer or in long relief.
From the current team the mix of juniors and seniors was led by shortstop Matt Duffy, (18th Round (568) Giants). Web report is “Odds are good that a junior in this round would sign, but every player is different. Maybe Matt really wants to come back but if that was the case it’s doubtful he’d be drafted. I don’t like our chances at keeping him.”
Two of the drafted prime time players were seniors– Brennan Metzger, (OF – 22nd Round (688) Giants) and Shawn Stuart, (RHP – 31st Round (948) Rockies). Both of their big clubs have farms in the Cal League where wood bats rule so an Inland Empire trip might be a nice summer roadie. A couple of 49er familiar names not called were pitcher Matt Anderson and hitter Juan Avila but there are still free agent tryouts to come.
Last Add-local talent. Perhaps the most discussed of the local prep players are pitchers Shane Watson (Lakewood) Pick 40, Philadelphia Phillies and Chase DeJong (Wilson) Pick 81, Toronto Blue Jays. Both lads made some news earlier this year signing scholarship agreements with the Universityof Southern California. The wrinkle, and isn’t there always a wrinkle, insiders expect both guys went the Trojan way to up the costs of the pro teams who have to talk them out of accepting around $200,000 in education and a CD that plays “Conquest” for a lot more in cold, hard cash.