Local baseball players wait for Major League Baseball draft
Dylan Beavers. Photo from social media.
Professional draft begins July 17 and will continue for several days
– Three local baseball players are expected to go in the early rounds of the upcoming Major League Baseball (MLB) draft.
Dylan Beavers is a Paso Robles resident who starred in the outfield at Cal Berkeley. Before Cal, Beavers played high school ball at Mission College Prep in San Luis Obispo. Beavers was twice selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team (2021, 2022.) He was selected to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team in 2021. At 6’4″ and 206 pounds, Beavers can hit the ball a long way. Last season, Beavers led the Pac-12 in home runs. One baseball analyst predicts that Beavers will be drafted among the first 20 players selected.
During the broadcast of the recent College World Series, the same analyst listed Cal Poly’s Brooks Lee among the first ten players to be drafted. Lee won the Brooks Wallace Award as the top shortstop in college baseball in 2022. This season, he led the Big West conference in hits, walks, doubles, home runs, runs scored, RBIs and walks. In his second full season with Cal Poly, he had a .357 batting average, 25 doubles, 15 home runs, and 55 RBIs. His batting average was the second-highest in the Big West. Lee is the son of Cal Poly Head Coach Larry Lee. Brooks grew up in San Luis Obispo and played for San Luis Obispo High School. In his youth, Lee also played for several national baseball teams in international competition.
Brooks Lee at shortstop. Photo from Cal Poly Athletics.
Cal Poly pitcher Drew Thorpe is another local baseball player likely to be drafted early. Thorpe is Cal Poly’s first six-time All-American. He was named to first teams by six different baseball associations. As a pitcher, he finished the 2022 season with a 10-1 record and ERA of 2.32. He finished second in the nation with 149 strikeouts. From Washington, Utah, Thorpe was one of five finalists for National Pitcher of the Year. He was the first Cal Poly player named Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year.
The professional draft begins July 17 and will continue for several days. The Baltimore Orioles have the first selection. The Los Angeles Angels make the 13th selection. The Padres select 15th. The Giants make the 30th selection. The Dodgers do not have a selection in the first round of the 2022 MLB draft.
