SARAH YORO | staff writer
Since 1970, Major League Baseball (MLB) has drafted 31 players from Azusa Pacific.
Each year, the MLB First-Year Player Draft occurs in June among 30 major league clubs. Currently, seven APU alumni are with MLB affiliate teams.
“We’ve really improved over the last few years,” senior right-hand pitcher Ben Jones said. “We’re becoming a school where it’s not unrealistic to get drafted. It says a lot for our program and its success.”
The draft lasts 50 rounds and each major league team is allowed one pick per round.
Draft order is determined by a team’s previous season standing, meaning, the team with the worst record gets to pick first.
Prior to the draft, professional scouts, who are full-time MLB employees, look at different collegiate and high school players.
If these scouts are interested in a player, they will inquire of his information and consider him a prospect.
According to the Official MLB Rules, in order for a player to be eligible for the draft he must: 1) be a high school graduate who has not attended a junior college or four-year college 2) be a college player from a four-year university who has completed his junior or senior years and is at least 21 years old or 3) be a junior college player.
Generally, a player will go to the minor league, even if it is just for a little while, and then work his way up to the major league.
“Once a player gets drafted and they sign a professional contract, they go to the minor league baseball system,” head coach Paul Svagdis said. “Some guys move through the system a lot faster than others. Typically, the higher round you’re drafted in, the more opportunities you have to make it to the big league level.”
The seven recent alumni that are in the minors include Jonny Bravo, Scott Hodsdon, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Jason Ray, Andrew Shive, Brandon Sisk and Stephen Vogt.
According to Svagdis, these players have represented the Azusa Pacific program in a positive light and have helped the university’s recruiting process.
“When you’re recruiting and high school or junior college players see you had the 100th overall pick in the draft, they get excited about that because they feel they won’t be limited [at Azusa Pacific],” Svagdis said.
Furthermore, Coach Svagdis believes that MLB organizations may want other players from Azusa Pacific; because of the experience they have had with the current seven Cougar ballplayers.
“Those players are great workers. They treat their teammates well, they listen to their coaches, they’re respectful and they take their job seriously. When they show that to an [MLB] organization, that organization says, ‘Hey maybe I want more people from [APU]. Maybe there’s something going on with the university that helps shape them into quality people,’” Svagdis said.
While the option of playing professional baseball sounds appealing to the Cougar team, not all players will have that opportunity.
“Some guys may be more prospects than others just based upon their size, their speed, their velocity on the mound or some sort of skill set they have,” Svagdis said. “We have a handful of other guys I expect to be looked at some point while they’re here.”
One of those potential league players is current junior first basemen Brice Cutspec.
According to Svagdis, Cutspec has good process and good play at the plate.
“[Cutspec is] doing really well this season and he’s had great seasons the past couple years,” Svagdis said. “If you’re getting drafted as a junior, that’s a pretty big opportunity. That means an organization is very excited about your prospects essentially making it to the highest level. So, we’re hoping the best for him.”
Although the anticipation of the draft can be nerve wrecking, Cutspec remains eager.
“I’m more excited than anything. A lot of my friends have been drafted to play pro ball and they love it,” Cutspec said. “Just to get the opportunity to do that would be amazing.”
Svagdis attributes the program’s draft success to the players.
“There isn’t really a thing I would attribute [the success to] other than the players’ determination, work ethic, and the quality and character of who they are,” Svagdis said. “If those players at the professional league weren’t surrounded by these guys, I’m not sure how successful they could’ve been without them. So, I think their teammates are a big part of it.”
