Tyler Kolek, Shepherd
File photo by John Godwin
Pitchers were the focus of teams selecting high school players in the first two rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft on Thursday as 23 of the 38 high school players chosen were pitchers.
Check out all of the high school players chosen in the first two rounds
The top two players chosen in the draft were high school pitchers with
Brady Aiken of
Cathedral Catholic (San Diego, Calif.) and
Tyler Kolek of
Shepherd (Shepherd, Texas) going to the Houston Astros and Miami Marlins respectively. The two selections marked the first time in 50-year history of the MLB Draft that two high school pitchers were chosen with the first two picks of the draft.
After the first two selections, high school selections tailed off until late in the first round when eight of the last 11 players chosen were high school players, culminating with 2013 MaxPreps National Player of the Year
Jack Flaherty of
Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) going to the St. Louis Cardinals with the 34th pick. A total of 16 high school players were chosen in the first round.
Notes from the first two rounds:
* The Miami Marlins went with Kolek in the first round and then chose a pair of darkhorses with their next two picks. With the No. 36 overall pick, the Marlins chose
Blake Anderson, a catcher out of
West Lauderdale (Collinsville, Miss.). With the No. 43 overall pick, they chose
Justin Twine, a small school player out of
Falls City (Falls City, Texas). Anderson was ranked No. 183 overall by Perfect Game and 216 by Baseball America. Meanwhile Twine was ranked No. 93 overall by Perfect Game and 138 by Baseball America.
* California had eight players chosen in the first two rounds while Florida had six and Texas had five.
* Injuries didn't seem to scare off teams.
Luis Ortiz of
Sanger (Sanger, Calif.), who suffered forearm soreness this year, went No. 30 overall to the Texas Rangers while
Scott Blewett of
Baldwinsville (Baldwinsville, N.Y.), who missed mound time with a sore shoulder, went to the Royals at No. 56.
* The top 10 players still available include:
MaxPreps Recruit Rankings1.
Mac Marshall,
Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.), LHP
2.
Cobi Johnson,
Mitchell (New Port Richey, Fla.), P
3.
Dylan Cease,
Milton (Milton, Ga.), IF/P
4.
Jackson Reetz,
Norris (Firth, Neb.), C
5.
Gregory Deichmann,
Brother Martin (New Orleans, La.), IF
6.
Keaton Mckinney,
Ankeny (Ankeny, Iowa), P
7.
Scott Hurst,
Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.), OF
8.
Stone Garrett,
George Ranch (Richmond, Texas), OF
9.
Alex Destino,
North Buncombe (Weaverville, N.C.), P/OF
10.
Zack Shannon,
Anderson (Cincinnati, Ohio), OF
