(Press Release)
The St. Louis Cardinals signed 10 more members of their 2014 MLB Draft Class, including second round selection Ronnie Williams, a right-handed pitcher out of American Senior High School in Miami, Fla., bringing their total signees to 18 of 42 total draft picks.
Williams, 18, is one of seven draft picks in 2014 who were alumni from Major League Baseball’s RBI Program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), and will report to the Cardinals Gulf Coast League affiliate in Jupiter, Fla.
“Ronnie is an elite athlete who already has a repeatable delivery, feel for both a changeup and breaking ball, and a fastball that we have clocked in the mid 90’s,” said Dan Kantrovitz, Cardinals Director of Scouting. “Ronnie is a great kid who will work as hard as anybody to find success in our system. From my standpoint, this signing is a result of the excellent work of our scouts in South Florida, Fernando Arango (Southeast Cross-checker) and Charlie Gonzalez (South Florida Area Scout).”
Andrew Sohn (rhymes with “own”), 21, a sixth-round selection shortstop from Western Michigan University will report to the Cardinals short season New York-Penn League affiliate in State College.
Daniel Poncedeleon, 22, a ninth-round right-handed pitcher out of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus, signed and will also report to State College. Poncedeleon was drafted four times in his career and played college baseball at four different universities including the University of Arizona and University of Houston. The ninth round was the highest he was drafted after being selected by the Rays (2010, 24th round), Reds (2012, 38th round) and Cubs (2013, 14th round) in previous drafts.
Cody Schumacher (SHOE-mahk-er) (36th round), a right-handed pitcher out of Missouri State University will report to State College, the third signee who will report to the New York-Penn League affiliate of today’s group. Blake Drake (18th round), Casey Grayson (21st round), Cole Lankford (27th round) and Josh Wirsu (WEHR-soo) (30th round) will all report to the Cardinals short season rookie affiliate in Johnson City of the Appalachian League. Julian Barzilli (31st round) and Davis Ward (40th) will report to the Gulf Coast League affiliate in Jupiter, Fla.
