Three former Sharks from the Miami Dade College baseball team were drafted in the 2017 MLB Draft yesterday. Players Kevin Williams, Ivan Pelaez, and Alex Valverde were three of the 1215 players who got drafted by a Major League Baseball organization.
The Los Angeles Angels in the 13th round with the 385th overall pick drafted leftfielder, Kevin Williams. As a sophomore, Williams played in 37 games with a batting average of .356. In addition, he had 23 RBIs, 21 runs, and 8 stolen bases. During his freshman campaign, the LF played in 44 games with a batting average of .269. He had 2 home runs, 32 RBIs, 29 runs, and 11 stolen bases. In 2017, Williams lead the Samford University Bulldogs with 11 home runs. In the 58 games that Williams played for Samford he had 34 RBIs, 13 doubles, and 37 runs.
The Tampa Bay Rays in the 22nd round with the 649th overall pick drafted right hand pitcher, Alex Valverde. In his lone season at Miami Dade, Valverde had an ERA of 1.80, 92 strikeouts, and an 8-1 win-loss record in 85.0 innings pitched. In addition, the pitcher signed his national letter of intent with the University of Alabama. During the 2017 FCSAA Baseball State Tournament, Valverde was named to the All-Southern Conference First Team and the FCSAA All-Tournament Team.
Left hand pitcher Ivan Pelaez will also join the Rays' organization. In the 33rd round with the 929th overall pick the Rays drafted Pelaez. As a sophomore, Pelaez had an ERA of 2.25, 26 strikeouts, and an 3-2 win-loss record in 36.0 innings pitched. In his two seasons at Faulkner University, Pelaez played in 38 games and had an 18-6 win-loss record. Pelaez pitched in 179.1 innings and had an ERA of 2.66. He finished his season at Faulkner with 165 strikeouts.
With these three players, the total number of players drafted and who have played in the MLB from MDC increases to seventy-eight.
Editor's note: According to Baseball-Reference, there are 373 players from MDC who were drafted in the MLB Amateur Draft. There were a few names missing on the list. The total should be 378.