KU’s baseball program has seen its best draft since 2014, with Hunter Cranton heading a roster of six picks following his pick by the Seattle Mariners. Cranton was selected 91st overall, during the third round of the draft, with Kodey Shojinaga drawn by the Phillies in the 6th round. Ethan Lanthier, Tegan Cain, Ben Hartl, and Evan Shaw round out the list of KU players to be drafted. With 6 drafted players, 2024 ties with 2014 for the most drafts in a single season, although 2014 had twice as many drafts as this year.
The Seattle Mariners are second favorites to take home the American League West title this year with some of the best online sportsbooks offering odds of +150. Favorites, the Houston Astros, are currently trading at +100, suggesting the title could be a close run thing. Crypto gambling and KU sports followers alike might want to consider a punt on the Mariners taking the title, following Cranton’s drafting.
The relief pitcher has, according to Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald, two major league pitches and has a 4-3 record having made seven saves in 25 appearances and 38 strike-outs over the course of 25 innings. Fitzgerald said he expected Cranton to be a quick mover when he joins up as part of the Mariners player development system. The Mariners enjoyed a winning season last season, picking up 88 wins to 74 losses, finishing third behind the Astros and Rangers. The Seattle team will be hoping Cranton can help improve that position and record to return to their winning ways of 2001.
Kodey Shojinaga was selected 192nd, in the 6th round of picks, by the Philadelphia Phillies. The hard-working infielder/catcher is described as having elite bat-to-ball skills by Fitzgerald and had the highest hits and doubles totals for Kansas, after starting 54 games.
The 402nd pick was Tegan Cain, joining Shojinaga at the Phillies. The right-handed pitcher saw 47 strikeouts from 33.1 innings and was especially effective against right-handers. His fastball delivery was especially worthy of note and is likely the reason he was drafted by the Phillies.
Picked 435th, junior catcher Ben Hartl had the second-highest number of home runs in the Kansas team last season, hitting 11 home runs in his 41 starts from 45 games. He totaled an average of .309 and Fitzgerald said of Hartl that he is a great defender.
Evan Shaw joins the Los Angeles Dodgers after being picked 490th overall. The left-handed pitcher made 10 starts in his 18 appearances and had 60 strike-outs during 42.1 innings of deliveries. The youngster has a long pitching career ahead of him according to his coach.
Coach Dan Fitzgerald expressed his pride in this draft class and said that his team has done a lot of great work finding, recruiting, and training the drafted players, while also saying they have a lot of work ahead to find replacements for the six departing players.
