Bukauskas was the highest DC-area player taken this year. Photo Bill Kamenjar/InsideNova.com
Draft Coverage so far for 2017:
- 2017 Draft coverage; Local draft-prospects to keep an eye in for the 2017 draft
- 2017 Draft coverage; Mock Draft mania plus my projected top-5 and Nats picks
- 2017 Draft coverage; Prospect ranks, important links and local players of note
- Nats first two 2017 draft picks reaction: Risk and Reward
- First Look: Quick overview of Nats top 10 Draft picks for 2017
Here’s a quick rundown of the DC-area kids who got drafted this year. My definition of “DC Area” includes any draftee who went to HS in the DC area or who attends a DC-area college. Thus this includes University of Maryland players, even inf most of them went to HS outside the area. NovaBaseballMagazine.com has a version of this story, and AllMetSports.com also published one if you’re interested.
| Round | Overall | State | Drafting Team | Name | Position | Col/HS | HS | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | VA | Houston | J.B. Bukauskas | RHP | Col Jr | Stone Bridge (Ashburn) | UNC |
| 2-S | 70 | VA | Colorado | Tommy Doyle | RHP | Col Jr | Flint Hill (Vienna) | UVA |
| 4 | 129 | MD | Toronto | Kevin Smith | SS | Col Jr | Update NY | Umaryland |
| 6 | 172 | MD | Arizona | Brian Shaffer | RHP | Col Jr | N. Harford, Pylesville MD | Umaryland |
| 10 | 294 | VA | Milwaukee | Alec Bettinger | RHP | Col Jr | Hylton (Woodbridge) | UVA |
| 14 | 422 | MD | New York Yankees | Harold Cortijo | RHP | HS | Riverdale Baptist | Seminole State |
| 17 | 515 | VA | Detroit | Billy Lescher | RHP | Col Jr | West Potomac HS | Penn |
| 17 | 524 | VA | Texas | Tyler Ratliff | 3B | Col Jr | TC Williams | Marshall U |
| 18 | 527 | VA | Cincinnati | John Ghyzel | RHP | Col Jr | Westfield (C'ville) | U Rochester |
| 19 | 558 | VA | San Diego | Nick Feight | 1B | Col Sr | Battlefield | UNC-Wilmington |
| 19 | 566 | VA | Colorado | Joey Bartosic | CF | Col Sr | Oakton HS | George Washington |
| 20 | 598 | MD/VA | Pittsburgh | Will Reed | RHP | J2 | Loudoun Valley (Purceville) | Harford CC |
| 21 | 625 | VA | Los Angeles Angels | Devon Perez | RHP | Col Jr | Stone Bridge (Ashburn) | Oklahoma |
| 22 | 653 | VA | Philadelphia | Brian Mims | 2B | Col Jr | Forest Park HS (Woodbridge) | UNC-Wilmington |
| 27 | 800 | MD | Atlanta | Randy Bednar | CF | HS | Landon School | Umaryland |
| 27 | 820 | MD | Los Angeles Dodgers | Jeremy Arocho | SS | HS | Old Mill | Northwest Florida State College |
| 31 | 921 | VA | Oakland | Brandon Withers | RHP | Col Sr5 | Osborn (Manassas) | JMU |
| 31 | 937 | MD | New York Mets | Ryan Selmer | RHP | Col Jr | Riverdale Baptist | Umaryland |
| 32 | 946 | VA | Minnesota | Nick Brown | RHP | Col Sr | Patriot (Bristow) | William & Mary |
| 34 | 1023 | MD | Seattle | David Hesslink | LHP | Col Sr | Bethesda-Chevy Chase | MIT |
| 36 | 1071 | VA | Oakland | Logan Farrar | OF/LHP | Col Jr | Woodbridge HS | VCU |
| 37 | 1109 | MD | Miami | Jared Price | RHP | Col Sr5 | Pennsylvania HS | UMaryland |
That’s not a bad collection of DC-area guys. We all knew J.B. Bukauskas would go high; lots of the mock drafts I saw had him as high as 6th. However two unsteady starts to close out his career (in the ACC tourney and then in the Regionals of the CWS) dropped him probably 10 spots from where he could have gone. Rumor has it he was suffering from a blister. Suffice it to say, Houston has to be ecstatic that they got him at 15. I’m slightly surprised how high Tommy Doyle went honestly; I would have guessed him to go a bit lower based on his profile now at UVA (reliever). But he’s now looking at an $800k+ bonus. UMaryland infielder Kevin Smith went a bit lower than projections. Maryland RHP Brian Shaffer also went a bit ahead of schedule, going in the 6th round after having some helium this spring. The last DC-area top-10 pick with a guaranteed slot was also a surprise to me: another UVA arm in Alec Bettinger went in the 10th round. Again a surprise given his profile as a reliever. But certainly not on talent or reputation; Bettinger’s name has been known to local baseball followers for years.
Riverdale Baptist’s Harold Cortijo, the All-Met player of the year, went in the 14th round. It should be interesting to see what he does. It seemed to me from reading his interviews that he intended to go pro, but a 14th round pick somewhat limits the bonus dollars he can get. I wonder if he goes to JuCo and tries again next year.
Three DC-area prep graduates who, frankly, I’d never heard of went in the 17th and 18th rounds. All three were at lower-profile baseball colleges.
Two area guys who play for UNC-Wilmington and who got some pre-season All America mention went in the 19th and 22nd round respectively: Nick Feight and Brian Mims were surprises to me to go so low.
The only other DC-area prep guys to even get drafted this year were two of the leading prep players in the area: Landon’s Randy Bednar, who went in the 27th and seems likely to honor his commit to UMaryland. Also Old Mill’s Jeremy Orocho, who is a longtime Evoshield Canes member and who apparently gave up on his UMaryland commit to go to JuCo. I’m guessing he plays a year of community college and re-applies for the draft.
So here’s a short list of the higher profile DC-area kids who did NOT get drafted at all that i’ve been tracking for a while: These commits change constantly so apologies if I have one of them wrong.
- Kyle Whitten, RHP/1B from Osbourn Park in Manassas, VA. Early commit to UVA.
- Tyler Solomon, C/1B from Battlefield HS in Haymarket, VA. Early commit to Vanderbilt
- Anthony Simonelli RHP from Millbrook in Winchester, VA. Early commit to Coastal Carolina
- Michael Ludowig, OF from Briar Woods. Early commit to Wake Forest.
- Connor Hartigan, OF from Millbrook in Winchester, VA. Was Early commit to Coastal Carolina, now committed to University of South Carolina-Sumter.
A far cry from 2016 with multiple prep kids from the area going in the top rounds. I’ll do a similar post for the extended DC/MD/VA area next.