A day after seeing teammate Michael Conforto drafted tenth overall by the New York Mets, four more Oregon State Beavers were drafted by major league clubs in rounds three through ten. The remaining thirty rounds of the draft will conclude tomorrow.
Right fielder Dylan Davis and pitchers Ben Wetzler, Jace Fry, and Scott Schultz make up the five current Beavers in the 2014 MLB draft class.
Jace Fry was the first Beaver taken, coming off the board quickly as the third pick in the third round (77th overall) to the Chicago White Sox. Fry rebounded off Tommy John surgery to become one of the most dominant Sunday starters in Oregon State history.
The junior from Clackamas threw a no-hitter and four shutouts to highlight an equally impressive stat line of 11-2 with a 1.80 ERA in 16 starts. 2014 marks the second draft of Fry’s career, having been taken in the ninth round of the 2011 draft by the Oakland Athletics. Fry’s pitch location, fastball with impressive late movement, and array of off-speed options will make the southpaw a formidable opponent.
Ten spots later, Dylan Davis was tabbed by the San Francisco Giants with the 87th overall pick. Number 10 batted cleanup for the majority of the year and lead the conference in RBIs with 64.
Davis finished 2014 batting .283 with 14 doubles and seven home runs. The junior from Redmond, Wash. finished his third year at Oregon State with a career .294 average, four triples, 15 home runs and 17 stolen bases.
Ben Wetzler was taken in the 9th round with the 257th overall pick by the Miami Marlins, joining Michael Conforto and NY Mets in the NL East.
Wetzler had arguably the best season ever for a Beaver pitcher in 2014. He led the nation with a 0.87 ERA, to go along with a team best 12 wins.
The foundation of Pat Casey’s rotation, Wetzler broke the school record for wins (36) and innings pitched (369 1/3) and came up just eight strikeouts short of breaking Jonah Nickerson’s program record of 299. A proven winner, Wetzler could find himself on the back end of a major league rotation very soon.
With the 300th pick overall, Scott Schultz was the final Beaver taken on day two of the draft, going to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
If Wetzler had the best season, then Schultz had the best finale. The senior from Gig Harbor, Wash. made only eight starts in his career at Oregon State, with the final one being a complete game shutout of the UC-Irvine Anteaters in the Corvallis Regional. The win forced a winner-take-all Monday night final, that would eventually be won by Irvine.
The right-hander finished his Beaver career with a 2.42 ERA in 96 games. He went 16-5 and struck out 134 in 208 1/3 innings. Shifting from setup man, to spot starter, to closer, Schultz handled it all with the competitive edge and class fit for a major league uniform.