Clemson baseball and it’s fans were on the roller coaster during the recent Major League Baseball Draft and it was a good news-bad news scenario for the Tigers.
Max Wagner went 42nd overall to the Orioles and with that selection comes a slot value of almost $1,861,000. What an incredible journey for this young man, who if you recall didn’t even start in the first few games of the season. Crazy.
Clemson commit Brock Porter, considered the best pitcher in the draft by some, was selected in the fourth round by the Texas Rangers. It was a genius move for the Rangers, who reportedly signed first round pick Kumar Rocker for $2.39 million below slot, didn’t have a second or third round pick and then picked Porter, who reportedly is looking at a $3.7 million dollar signing bonus as a fourth round pick.
Mack Anglin was selected in the 7th round with the 205th overall pick by the Kansas City Royals and it’s anticipated Anglin will sign. The slot value for this pick is $233,400 and considering Anglin was drafted in the 13th round last season and had an inconsistent season, it seems a wise decision to make the leap to pro ball. Anglin profiles as a reliever in professional ball.
Geoffrey Gilbert was selected in the 13 round, No. 400 overall by the New York Yankees and has already indicated he will sign and report on Thursday.
Geoffrey Gilbert is starting his pro baseball journey.
— Scott Eisberg (@SEisbergWCIV) July 19, 2022
Elated would be an understatement for the former @battlingbishops and @ClemsonBaseball hurler from West Ashley. He perfectly states right here what it means to be picked by the Yankees.
He flies out Thursday. pic.twitter.com/n6i8Ez3ZJY
The allure of potentially pitching for the Yankees is strong and Gilbert is ready to move on to professional baseball.
While Brock Porter seems destined to sign with Texas, another high school phenom committed to Clemson went undrafted
Tristan Smith, a Clemson commit who was ranked 46th overall went undrafted and now seems headed Clemson.
It’s not clear what new assistant head coach Nick Schnabel meant with this tweet yesterday morning, but he is the recruiting coordinator.
Great day to be a Tiger‼️👀 pic.twitter.com/epIzA02xSs
— Nick Schnabel (@nischnab) July 19, 2022
All in all, not a bad day for Clemson baseball. The only real question was Gilbert and given the time he’d spent in the program, the resource laden team he was drafted by and change in coaching staff, it’s likely in his best interest to go the professional route.
It looks like Smith is headed to Clemson to be a part of the 2023 Clemson Tiger baseball team and that is a huge win.