Shaw, Kirby, Lilek Go in Day 1 of 2015 MLB Draft
June 9, 2015 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) News Release
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - The San Francisco Giants used the 31st pick of the first round of the 2015 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft to select Boston College rising senior first baseman Chris Shaw on Monday night.
A star on the 2013 New Bedford Bay Sox, Shaw becomes the 22nd first-rounder to play in the NECBL. It is the eighth consecutive draft in which a product from The New England League was selected in the first round.
A Lexington, Massachusetts, native, Shaw earned First-Team All-NECBL honors in 2013. He hit .335 with 16 extra-base hits and ranked second in the NECBL with 39 RBIs. Scouts considered the lefty to be one of the premium power bats in the draft. This spring, Shaw hit .319 with 11 homers and averaged better than an RBI per game with the Eagles while battling injury.
The Giants received the compensation pick that they used on Shaw when long-time third baseman Pablo Sandoval signed with the Red Sox in the offseason.
Next to go, in the compensatory portion of Round 1, was former Swamp Bat Nathan Kirby, one of the nation's top left-handed hurlers out of Virginia. The 2013 Keene product was named the NECBL's Top Prospect and Rookie of the Year after posting a 1.67 ERA and 60 strikeouts over 43 innings to lead Keene to a league championship. He was selected 40th overall by the Milwaukee Brewers.
On his way to the College World Series next weekend after Virginia rallied in the ninth to top Maryland, Kirby owns a 2.82 ERA in 10 starts over 59-1/3 innings during which he has fanned 75 batters.
In the second round, former Newport Gull Brett Lilek, a left-handed pitcher out of Arizona State, was selected 50th overall by the Miami Marlins.
A part of the 2013 Newport squad that advanced to the NECBL Championship Series, the southpaw posted a 1.64 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 27-1/3 innings for the Gulls and was considered one of the top pitchers in the league that summer.
Lilek appeared in 17 games (15 starts) this spring with the Sun Devils, pitching to the tune of a 3.20 ERA with 66 strikeouts over 78-2/3 innings. He finished with a 4-2 record and held opponents to a .213 average against while helping ASU qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
The NECBL averages 80 alumni drafted each year.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 9, 2015
- VT Mountaineers Make-Up Date Announced - Vermont Mountaineers
- Keene Swamp Bats Game Postponed to June 11th - Keene Swamp Bats
- Shaw, Kirby, Lilek Go in Day 1 of 2015 MLB Draft - NECBL
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