St. Louis Cardinals Complete 2017 First-Year Player Draft

The St. Louis Cardinals concluded the 2017 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by selecting 38 players, 30 from the college ranks and eight from high school or prep academies.  The list included 22 pitchers (7 left-hander & 15 right-handers), four catchers, eight infielders and four outfielders.

Four of the players are still playing in the NCAA College World Series: outfielder Scott Hurst and infielder Taylor Bryant of Cal-State Fullerton, shortstop Kramer Robertson of LSU and pitcher Jim Voyles of Florida State.

The draftees came from hometowns covering 18 states and Puerto Rico.  The top producing state was California with nine players selected and Florida, Georgia and Texas were represented with three apiece.

Only one player drafted today by the Cardinals had been previously drafted, that being left-handed pitcher Andrew Summerville in the 34^th round of the 2014 draft by the Seattle Mariners.

Four sets of college teammates were selected: Cal State-Fullerton had Scott Hurst (3^rd round) and second baseman Taylor Bryant (33^rd round); San Diego State had left-handed pitcher Brett Seeburger (10^th round) and right-handed pitcher C.J. Saylor (28^th round); Coastal Carolina had right-handed pitcher Will Latcham (17^th round) and second baseman Wood Myers (29^th round), although both transferred in and did not play for the 2016 National Championship squad; University of Arkansas-Little Rock had catcher Cameron Knight (32^nd round) and right-handed pitcher Cory Malcom (34^th round).

            Players with athletic ties in their family included catcher Saul Garza (31^st round) whose father Santana Garza played college baseball for University of Texas-Pan American; pitcher Jim Voyles (38^th round) who has a twin brother Ed on the Florida State baseball team, and his father Ben and uncle Bill both played golf at Florida State.

            Two-way players and players who switched positions include third baseman Drew Mendoza (11^th round), who also pitched at North Carolina State, but was drafted as a third baseman, and C.J. Saylor (28^th round), a converted catcher to relief pitcher, who nailed down 24 career saves for the Aztecs, tied for the second-most in the school’s history with current MLB pitcher Addison Reed.

Several of the team’s draftees came with exemplary athletic accolades.  Outfielder Brandon Benson (20^th round) batted .395 with 22 home runs, 79 RBI and a .819 slugging percentage at Georgia College and State University, ranking among the NCAA Division II leaders in home runs (2^nd), RBI (3^rd) and slugging (4^th).  Right-handed pitcher Jake Walsh (16^th round) ranked 2^nd in NCAA Division II with 12 wins while at Florida Southern College.  Jake Dahlberg (21^st round), a left-handed pitcher out of the University of Illinois-Chicago, was the first pitcher to be named Horizon League Pitcher of the Year twice, accomplishing the feat in 2015 and 2017.  Thomas St. Clair (24^th round), a right-handed pitcher out of Lenoir-Rhyne University, ranked 7^th in NCAA Division II strikeouts with 116 including games with 17 and 16 strikeouts during the 2017 season.  Right-handed pitcher Cory Malcom (34^th round) set the University of Arkansas-Little Rock single-season school record with 109 strikeouts this year.

See the following page for a complete listing of the Cardinals 2017 draft.

2017 FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT – RECAP

Rd., Player (overall pick)          Pos.        B-T     Ht.      Wt.     School                                                       Hometown                     

3. Scott Hurst (94)                       CF           L-R      5-10    175     Cal State University, Fullerton             Glendora, Calif.
4. Kramer Robertson (124)        SS            R-R     5-10    166     Louisiana State University                    McGregor, Texas
5. Zach Kirtley (154)                   2B           R-R     6-1      190     St. Mary’s (Calif.) College                      Highland, Calif.
6. Zach Jackson (184)                 C              L-R      6-3      215     Winter Haven (Fla.) HS                          Haines City, Fla.
7. Chase Pinder (214)                  CF           R-R     6-1      190     Clemson University                                Poquoson, Va.
8. Wilberto Rivera (244)            RHP        R-R     6-3      207     Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy       Naranjito, Puerto Rico
9. Evan Kruczynski (274)          LHP        L-L      6-5      215     East Carolina University                       Franklin, Wis.
10. Brett Seeburger (304)             LHP        L-L      6-2      225     San Diego State University                    Oceanside, Calif.

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11. Evan Mendoza (334)               3B           R-R     6-2      200     North Carolina State University           Sarasota, Fla.
12. Andrew Summerville (364)   LHP        L-L      6-3      195     Stanford University                     Seattle, Wash.
13. Jacob Patterson (394)              LHP        R-L      6-2      190     Texas Tech University                     Garland, Texas
14. Donivan Williams (424)        3B           R-R     6-0      190     Harold L. Richards HS                            Oak Lawn, Ill.
15. Terriez “Terry” Fuller (454)  LF           L-R      6-4      240     Griffin HS                             Griffin, Ga.
16. Jake Walsh (484)                      RHP        R-R     6-1      192     Florida Southern College                       Indialantic, Fla.
17. Will Latcham (514)                 RHP        R-R     6-2      200     Coastal Carolina University                  Briarcliffe, Pa.
18. Shane McCarthy(544)              RHP        R-R     6-2      190     Seton Hall University                     Fair Haven, N.J.
19. Irving Lopez (574)                   2B           S-R      5-10    170     Florida International University          Yuma, Ariz.
20. Brandon Benson (604)            OF           R-R     6-1      195     Georgia College & State University      Loganville, Ga.
21. Jake Dahlberg (634)                 LHP        L-L      6-0      205     University of Illinois-Chicago              Vancouver, Wash.
22. Kevin Hamann (664)               RHP        R-R     6-3      180     Lewis & Clark State (Idaho) College    Bend, Ore.
23. Evan Guillory (694)                RHP        R-R     6-3      205     University of Louisiana-Lafayette       Jennings, La.
24. Thomas St. Clair (724)            RHP        R-R     6-1      186     Lenoir-Rhyne University                       Winston-Salem, N.C.
25. Patrick Dayton (754)               LHP        L-L      6-0      170     Kent State University                     La Jolla, Calif.
26. Paul Balestrieri (784)              RHP        R-R     6-0      210     Cornell University                     West Windsor, N.J.
27. Kodi Whitley (814)                  RHP        R-R     6-3      215     University of Mount Olive (N.C.)        Clayton, N.C.
28. Cameron “C.J.” Saylor (844)   RHP        R-R     5-10    185     San Diego State University                    West Covina, Calif.
29. Wood Myers (874)                 2B           L-R      5-8      180     Coastal Carolina University                  Chapel Hill, N.C.
30. Alex Fagalde (904)                   RHP        R-R     6-3      225     University of California-Riverside      El Dorado Hills, Calif.
31. Saul Garza (934)                       C              R-R     6-3      220     Edinburg North HS                             Edinburg, Texas
32. Cameron Knight (964)             C              R-R     6-0      205     University of Arkansas-Little Rock     Moore, Okla.
33. Taylor Bryant (994)                2B           R-R     5-11    200     Cal State University, Fullerton             La Quinta, Calif.
34. Cory Malcom (1,024)              RHP        R-R     6-0      190     University of Arkansas-Little Rock     Elkhart, Ind.
35. Alex Gallegos(1,054)               RHP        R-R     6-3      175     Torrance HS                             Torrance, Calif.
36. Michael Brdar (1,084)             SS            R-R     5-10    180     University of Michigan                       Pleasanton, Calif.
37. Adam Kerner (1,114)               C              R-R     5-11    175     Oaks Christian HS                             Agoura Hills, Calif.
38. Jim Voyles (1,144)                   RHP        R-R     6-7      205     Florida State University                     Atlanta, Ga.
39. Chris Hunt (1,174)                   RHP        R-R     6-3      210     Henderson State (Ark.) University      Greenwood, Ark.
40. Austin Pollock (1,204)            LHP        L-L      6-3      183     Lincoln HS                             Tallahassee, Fla.