Updated 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 16:
Four MLB teams selected current Kansas baseball players on Tuesday, the third day of the 2024 MLB Draft. Ethan Lanthier, Tegan Cain, Ben Hartl and Evan Shaw will all have the chance to pursue professional careers if they so choose.
“I’m really proud of this draft class,” KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said in a press release. “We’ve come a long way in two years and have our work cut out for us in replacing these guys! My staff did a fantastic job in finding these guys, recruiting them, and developing them at a high level! The bar has certainly been raised.”
Lanthier, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound right-handed pitcher, was the first off the board as he went in the 12th round as the 353rd overall pick to the New York Mets. He played one season at KU after two years at NCAA Division II St. Cloud State and would have an additional year of eligibility remaining if he chose to return to school.
As one of the Jayhawks’ primary relievers during the 2024 campaign, Lanthier posted a 4.54 ERA in 37 2/3 innings pitched over the course of 20 appearances, with 42 strikeouts to 19 walks on the season. He held hitters to an opposing batting average of .216, which was among the lowest averages conceded by any player on the KU pitching staff.
“Ethan had a fantastic year for us and is a great pick for the Mets,” Fitzgerald said in the release. “(He) has a huge fastball and great feel for a well-above average slider. He’s a great competitor and an outstanding teammate.”
Lanthier opened the year pitching typically in increments of one inning or less, but KU was able to stretch him out a bit over the course of the season, as he combined with players like J’Briell Easley and Shaw to eat up innings on Sundays after the season-ending injury to Sunday starter Patrick Steitz. On April 28, Lanthier tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings with just two hits and one walk allowed in a victory over Texas Tech.
Lanthier, who is originally from Northfield, Minnesota, and chose KU over Georgia, Kentucky, Nebraska and Texas A&M, is the first KU player taken by the Mets in the draft since Steve Villines went in the 10th round in 2017.
Kansas pitcher Tegan Cain pitches in relief against Missouri, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
Cain is second Jayhawk picked by Phillies
Cain, who is from Ellis and previously attended Barton Community College, became the second Jayhawk selected by Philadelphia over the last two days when the Phillies grabbed him in the 13th round at 402nd overall.
The 6-foot, 200-pound righty accrued a 5.94 ERA in 33 1/3 innings for KU. At 27 appearances in all, including one start, he was the Jayhawks’ second-most frequently deployed pitcher out of the bullpen behind freshman Cooper Moore.
He would also be able to play one more year of college baseball if he so chose.
MLB.com’s scouting report for Cain reads: “He unleashes three interesting pitches from a sidearm slot but struggles with his control and command … His fastball gets hit despite operating at 93-96 mph and reaching 99, (and) his low-80s changeup tumbles at the plate and grades better than his low-80s frisbee slider.”
“Tegan has an above average changeup that was really effective versus right-handed hitters,” Fitzgerald said. “His fastball velocity improved greatly in his time as a Jayhawk.”
Cain attended the MLB Draft Combine in Phoenix last month along with his teammate Kodey Shojinaga, who also went to the Phillies.
Kansas’ Ben Hartl steps on home plate against Texas Tech on Saturday, April 27, 2024, at Hoglund Ballpark.
Hartl chosen by Rangers
Hartl became the second Jayhawk position player off the board in the 2024 draft when he went to the Texas Rangers with the final pick of the 14th round, 435th overall.
Hartl, who catches and also played first base for KU during his junior season this spring, hit .309 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs after joining the Jayhawks from Heartland Community College.
“Hartl will be a great addition to the Rangers,” Fitzgerald said. “Ben has great strike zone discipline and is a very good defender behind the plate.”
Hartl has recently been playing summer wood-bat baseball for the Bourne Braves in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League.
Kansas pitcher Evan Shaw fires in a pitch against Missouri on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
Dodgers take Shaw
Another KU pitcher got selected in the 16th round, as Shaw, a lefty, got the call from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Shaw was another key acquisition from the JUCO ranks for the Jayhawks ahead of the 2024 season, but unlike most he had previously attended a four-year college. The Fridley, Minnesota, native briefly played for Minnesota State in 2020 before spending 2022 and 2023 at Cochise College in Arizona.
Listed as a junior for KU in 2024, he accrued a 5.10 ERA with 60 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings.
“Shaw had one of the best left-handed sliders in this year’s draft to go along with an above average fastball,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a great athlete and will pitch for a long time in professional baseball.”
Fitzgerald’s team has now gotten six players selected this year — Hunter Cranton in the third round by Seattle, Shojinaga in the sixth by Philadelphia, and now Lanthier, Cain, Hartl and Shaw — after KU did not have a player picked in the MLB Draft from 2020 to 2023. The last time at least six Jayhawks went in the draft was 2014.
In addition, shortly after Lanthier, incoming KU transfer pitcher Brandon Downer, who previously played at Cal Baptist and has one season of eligibility left, was selected in the 13th round by the Baltimore Orioles; he too will have a decision to make about his baseball future.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World
Kansas Athletics
Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World