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Five Commodores Selected in First Day of MLB Draft 6/7/2004
Five Commodores Selected in First Day of MLB Draft Left-hander Jeremy Sowers #6 Pick to Cleveland Five Commodore baseball players were drafted on the first day of the Major League Baseball Draft highlighted by Jeremy Sowers #6 overall pick by the Cleveland Indians. Cesar Nicolas and Ryan Klosterman were back-to-back picks in the fifth round, while Antoan Richardson was a 13th round selection and Jeff Sues a 14th round selection. Sowers, a 6-1 junior left-handed pitcher, is the highest pick ever for the Commodores at #6 in the first round. The Louisville, Ky., native owns a 10-5 record for the Commodores and a 2.64 ERA. He leads the team with 119.1 inninngs pitched and 118 strikeouts with only 23 walks. He has allowed 42 runs (35 earned) on 97 hits, including just 24 extra base hits. He is a two-time SEC pitcher of the week this season and was an all-tournament selection in the SEC Tournament and the Charlottesville Regional Tournament. Opponents are batting .222 against him. He has won his last three consecutive games totaling 29 strikeouts and five walks in those games. In 2001, Sowers was the 20th pick in the first round by Cincinnati. “It’s a dream come true to be selected by a high quaility organization like Cleveland,” Sowers said. I’m really excited about the future, but more importantly, my main focus is with this team and playing Texas this weekend at the Super Regional.” Nicolas is coming off an MVP performance in the NCAA Regional. He owns a .341 batting average with a team-leading 15 home runs. He is second with 70 RBI and numbers a team-leding nine sacrifice flys. Klosterman is second on the team in batting average with a .346 mark. The shortstop owns a .972 fielding percentage and was featured on ESPN’s Play of the Day with a defensive stop in the SEC Tournament. He was selected as the team MVP by his teammates and is an SEC First Team selection. He was also named to the SEC and Charlottesville Regional All-Tournament team. The Commodore lead-off hitter has scored at least one run in 49 games this season and owns the Vanderbilt school record for triples in a season with eight. Richardson leads the SEC in stolen bases with 31 and totals 51 runs this season. He owns a .269 batting average and totals a team-leading 17 sacrifice hits this season. He totals 54 hits, including nine doubles, four triples and three home runs. He has played in 62 games in centerfield and has committed just one error in 168 chances. Richardson was previously drafted by Baltimore. Sues has appeared in 19 games this season with a 4-1 record and 4.47 ERA. He has piched 44.1 innings giving up 25 runs (22 earned) on 43 hits. Opponents are batting .253 against him. The last time Vanderbilt had five players drafted in the entire draft was 1993 when Vee Hightower, Greg Thomas, Gabe Whatley, Alan Purdy and Willy Daunic were selected. The Commodores are preparing for their first ever appearance in an NCAA Baseball Super Regional when they travel to play the #1 seed Texas on Friday. 2004 MLB Draft – Vanderbilt Selections: Round 1, #6 – Cleveland Indians Round 5, #146 – Arizona Diamondbacks Round 5, #147 – Toronto Blue Jays Round 13, #386 – Arizona Diamondbacks Round 14, #407 – Cleveland Indians |
