Another successful MLB Draft concluded for the Santa Barbara Foresters Saturday evening, as a total of twenty current and former ‘Sters were selected by fourteen Major League teams. This follows the 2013 Draft in which eleven Santa Barbara players were taken, continuing the Foresters’ tradition as a pipeline to the pros.
Selected back-to-back in the fifth round were star pitchers Drew Van Orden and Tejay Antone, picked by the Washington Nationals and the Cincinnati Reds respectively. Van Orden led last year’s team with a 1.13 ERA and 72 strikeouts, good for second on the all-time Foresters list. Antone appeared in 20 games for the ‘Sters, dominating batters to the tune of a 1.75 ERA.
In the sixth round, the Chicago White Sox picked 2013 Foresters MVP Louie Lechich, and Austen Williams went to the Nationals. Lechich hit .326 last summer while leading the squad with 35 RBI.
From your current Foresters, four players were selected in the Draft. The Minnesota Twins picked Pat Kelly in the twelfth round while Matt Ditman was taken by the St. Louis Cardinals in the fifteenth, both players scheduled to come out to Santa Barbara later in the summer. Vance Vizcaino went to the Kansas City Royals in the twenty-ninth round and Coach Bill Pintard’s New York Yankees selected David Graybill in the thirty-third round.
Here is a complete list of the Foresters picked in the 2014 MLB Draft:
Round Player Team
5 Drew Van Orden Washington Nationals
5 Tejay Antone Cincinnati Reds
6 Louie Lechich Chicago White Sox
6 Austen Williams Washington Nationals
8 Ryan O’Hearn Kansas City Royals
11 Zach Fish Chicago White Sox
12 Pat Kelly Minnesota Twins
12 Garrett Mattlage Detroit Tigers
13 Joey Epperson San Diego Padres
13 Austin Davidson Washington Nationals
15 Matt Ditman St. Louis Cardinals
17 Shane Hoelscher Colorado Rockies
19 Parker French Detroit Tigers
19 Aaron Bummer Chicago White Sox
22 Patrick Weigel Milwaukee Brewers
24 Vince Wheeland Houston Astros
25 Tyler Pearson Chicago Cubs
29 Vance Vizcaino Kansas City Royals
33 David Graybill New York Yankees
38 Colt Atwood Oakland Athletics
