NECBL New England Collegiate Baseball League

Six NECBL Alums Taken on Day 1 of 2016 MLB Draft

June 10, 2016 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) News Release


NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - The San Diego Padres used the 25th pick of the first round of the 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft to select Kent State University rising senior and left-handed pitcher Eric Lauer on Thursday, highlighting a night that saw six total New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) alumni taken in the first two rounds and first two compensatory rounds of the MLB Draft.

Seven picks after Lauer - who was a member of the 2014 Keene Swamp Bats - the Los Angeles Dodgers used their 32nd overall pick to select former Newport Gull Will Smith, a catcher out of Louisville.But the Dodgers weren't done with NECBL products, using their 36th overall pick in the "Lottery A" compensatory round to select former Laconia Muskrat Jordan Sheffield, a right-hander out of Vanderbilt.

The three of them raise the league's total to 26 first-round draft selections who are NECBL alumni. Those selections also mark the ninth consecutive MLB Draft in which a product from The New England League was selected in the first round.

The 2016 MAC Pitcher of the Year, Lauer had a spectacular junior season, allowing just three earned runs in his final 12 starts and leading NCAA Division I with a 0.69 ERA - the lowest for a DI starter since 1979. As a Swamp Bat, he totaled four appearances two summers ago - which was at the conclusion of his freshman season - and went 2-1 with 17 strikeouts over 15-2/3 innings while only walking six.

Smith, a Louisville product and member of the 2014 NECBL Champion Newport Gulls squad, had a breakout junior season behind the plate for the Cardinals and was grabbed by the Dodgers late in the first round. He enters this weekend's NCAA Tournament Super Regional series hitting .380 (tied for the best average on the team) with seven home runs and 45 RBIs. For the Gulls in 2014, he hit two doubles in three postseason games while appearing in 18 overall to help the Gulls claim their sixth league title.

Next to go, in the "Lottery A" compensatory portion of Round 1, was Sheffield, who was selected 36th overall by the Dodgers. The 2014 Muskrat pitched 11 games - including six starts - two summers ago and finished with 36 strikeouts over as many innings. Sheffield headlined Vanderbilt's weekend starting rotation during the Commodores' 2016 season, leading the team with eight wins, a 3.01 ERA and 113 strikeouts. Those efforts helped Vanderbilt qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Former Plymouth Pilgrim Ben Bowden highlighted the first of three second-round selections for NECBL alumni, as the Colorado Rockies took Bowden 45th overall. Bowden split time between the Commodores' starting rotation and the team's closing role, going 2-1 with a 3.51 ERA and a team-high 10 saves. While his time in Plymouth was brief in 2014, he did go demonstrate his mastery in two outings, tossing four scoreless innings with five strikeouts, no walks and only one walk yielded.

The Vermont Mountaineers saw an alumnus taken by the New York Yankees late in the second round, as another Louisville product in second baseman Nick Solak, a 2014 Mountaineer, went 62nd overall. He enters the weekend's NCAA Tournament Super Regionals tied for the team lead in batting average (with Smith, appropriately enough), and is among the team leaders in total hits (60), doubles (14), home runs (5) and RBIs (29). With the Mountaineers two years ago, he batted .275 (22-80) with 12 runs scored and six RBIs before batting over .400 in the playoffs with eight runs and four RBIs in only four games.

Finally, Keene's second drafted alum of the night was selected eight picks later at 70th overall, as Virginia right-hander Connor Jones saw his name next to the St. Louis Cardinals. The righty led the Cavaliers with an 11-1 record on the mound, as well as a stellar 2.34 ERA and team-best 72 strikeouts as a junior, helping the defending national champions reach the NCAA Tournament. In 2014 with Keene, he pitched in five games - four starts - while going 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA and 22 strikeouts over as many innings.

The NECBL averages between 80-90 alumni drafted each year. The 2016 MLB Draft continues on Friday beginning at 1 p.m. with Rounds 3-10 and concludes on Saturday with Rounds 11-40. A full release summarizing the NECBL's performance in this year's MLB Draft will be posted early next week.



New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 10, 2016


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