(Press Release)
The St. Louis Cardinals selected seven pitchers, three infielders, an outfielder and a catcher after two days of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft. The breakdown of the first 12 picks has the Cardinals drafting 10 college and two high school players overall.
Two of the players are still playing in the Super Regional round of the College World Series. Five of the players are from California and four hail from Florida. The list includes a player who has been drafted four times in his career and the current the NCAA Division I leader in runs scored.
Trevor Megill (mih-GILL) , the Cardinals third round pick out of Loyola Marymount University, is a 6-foot-8, 235 lb., right-handed pitcher who was a two-time All-West Coast Conference selection. Megill sat out the entire 2014 season with Tommy John surgery.
Austin Gomber (GOHM-ber) , the Cardinals fourth round pick out of Florida Atlantic University, was a first team Sun Belt selection in 2013 while leading the conference in earned run average. Gomber is 6-foot-5, 215 lb., left-hander who has been the ace of the FAU staff the past two seasons.
Darren Seferina (SEF-err-ee-nah) , the Cardinals fifth round pick out of Miami-Dade Community College South, helped lead MDCC to the NJCAA World Series where they finished runner-up. The left-handed batting second baseman batted .405 with a home run, 39 RBI and 34 stolen bases (T13th in NJCAA), and was named to the NJCAA World Series team.
Andrew Sohn (rhymes with “own”) , the Cardinals sixth round pick out of Western Michigan University, led the Broncos in batting average (.323) and was the 2014 Pre-season Mid-American Conference Player of the Year. The two-time All-MAC selection was a two-sport athlete in high school lettering in baseball and ice hockey. His father Ray also played baseball at Western Michigan.
Brian O’Keefe, the Cardinals seventh round selection out of St. Joseph’s University (Pa.), was an all-Atlantic 10 first team selection at catcher. He tied the school record and led the conference with 58 runs scored, ranked 4th in the NCAA Division I in runs scored per game and ranked tied for 2nd in the conference with seven home runs.
Nick Thompson, the Cardinals eight round pick out of the College of William & Mary, was a first team All-Colonial Athletic Association selection. Drafted as a right fielder, Thompson currently leads all NCAA Division I players with 69 runs scored and was the CAA batting champion posting a .368 average while ranking second with 11 home runs and posting a 1.050 on base plus slugging percentage.
Daniel Poncedeleon, the Cardinals ninth round pick out of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., was an NAIA second team all-American posting a 9-2 record with a 1.60 ERA in 95 innings and 103 strikeouts. The right-handed pitcher played collegiately at four different institutions including the University of Arizona and the University of Houston. Poncedeleon was also drafted three previous times by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 24th round of the 2010 draft, Cincinnati Reds in the 38th round of the 2012 draft and the Chicago Cubs in the 14th round of the 2013 draft.
Danny Diekroeger (DEE-kro-gher), the Cardinals 10th round pick out of Stanford University, was drafted as a third baseman but has been playing first base for Stanford. Diekroeger is batting .311 with a .402 on base percentage this season and still playing for the Cardinal in the Nashville Super Regional. The two-sport high school athlete, who set a Bay Area record throwing for 4,185 yards playing quarterback at Menlo (Calif.) High School, comes from an athletic family. His brother Kenny played baseball for Stanford and was Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 2010. His mother Kathy ran track at Dartmouth and set several school records.
