Tyler Jay leads the way as nine Illini chosen in MLB Draft

Even after the 2015 Illinois baseball season is over, the team is breaking records. Now that the MLB Draft is over, a total of nine Illini players have been chosen. This breaks the school’s record of six from 1985. Not only that, Illinois is top drafted team in the Big Ten and has the third highest total in the nation.

Of course, the big news is the Minnesota Twins’ early pick of Tyler Jay on Monday night after his start in the Super Regional. Jay was chosen sixth overall by the Twins. Historically, he is the highest drafted Illini in the MLB draft and only the second Illini to be drafted in the first round (John Ericks was drafted 22nd overall in 1988).

Tuesday, two more early Illini draft picks. starter Kevin Duchene was chosen by the Oakland A’s and slugger David Kerian got picked by the Washington Nationals.

By the end of today, a total of nine Illini were chosen. Only Oklahoma (11) and UC-Santa Barbara (10) had more players drafted.

Meet the the Illini Draft Class of 2015!

Tyler Jay

Left-handed Pitcher – Junior
First round – 6th pick overall
Minnesota Twins

Kevin Duchene

Left-handed Pitcher – Junior
Fifth round – 158th pick overall
Oakland Athletics

David Kerian

Firstbaseman – Senior
Ninth round – 284th pick overall
Washington Nationals

Jason Goldstein

Catcher – Junior
Seventeenth round – 522nd pick overall
Los Angeles Dodgers

Adam Walton

Shortstop – Redshirt Sophomore
Twentieth round – 613th pick overall
Baltimore Orioles

Nick Blackburn

Right-handed Pitcher – Junior
Twenty-second round – 659th pick overall
New York Mets

Rob McDonnell

Left-handed Pitcher – Redshirt Senior
Twenty-fifth round – 762nd pick overall
Los Angeles Dodgers

Drasen Johnson

Right-handed Pitcher – Redshirt Senior
Twenty-sixth round – 767th pick overall
Colorado Rockies

Ryan Nagle

Outfielder – Junior
Twenty-seventh round – 817th pick overall
Pittsburgh Pirates

You can read Fighting Illini’s report on the draft here. In the next few weeks, negotiations will be had and I’m sure some decisions will need to be made.

Congratulations and good luck to all nine players!

3 Comments:

Chris Fink
June 10, 2015 at 9:27 pm

Do you think Walton will actually leave?

Ann - Illini Baseball Fan
June 10, 2015 at 10:51 pm

Congrats to all of our draftees! Looking forward to seeing you live your dreams!

From what I’ve read in some forums, the signing bonus really drops quickly and isn’t very large past the 10th round, along with low pay in the minors. Does anyone have a good link to confirm that? The risk of injury also has to be a consideration. Depending on their financial positions and their majors, some juniors may choose to go, expecting to advance quickly through the minors. They may decide to complete their degrees later.

Ann - Illini Baseball Fan
June 10, 2015 at 10:55 pm

Also, the pitching coach tweetd that John Kravetz is a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays! Congrats to John!!