Virginia left-handed pitcher/first baseman Danny Hultzen (Jr., Bethesda, Md.) was selected by the Seattle Mariners with the second overall pick in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Monday evening. Hultzen is the highest draft selection in Virginia baseball history.
“I was completely and utterly shocked that I was picked that soon,” Hultzen said. “I had an idea that I may be picked somewhere in the top part of the draft, but never would I have thought I would be No. 2. It is an incredible feeling.”
“Danny is one of the top pitchers in the draft with tremendous athletic ability,” Tom McNamara, Mariners director of amateur scouting, said. “We look forward to having him in our organization and working his way towards being part of our Major League rotation in the near future.”
Virginia’s highest draft pick ever was Ryan Zimmerman, who was taken fourth overall by the Washington Nationals in the 2005 draft.
Hultzen is the fourth Virginia player to be chosen in the first round of the MLB Draft. He joins Brian Buchanan (1994 – Yankees), Seth Greisinger (1996 – Tigers) and Zimmerman as Cavaliers selected in the draft’s first round. The Oakland Athletics took Sean Doolittle in the supplemental first round in 2007.
Hultzen is the 93rd all-time draft pick from the Virginia program.
Hultzen was named a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award on Monday, one day after earning Most Outstanding Player honors for the NCAA Charlottesville Regional as the Cavaliers won their third straight regional crown.
The left-hander has posted an 11-3 record on the mound with a 1.57 ERA, while striking out 148 batters, a UVa single-season best. He has become Virginia’s all-time career leader in wins (31) and strikeouts (378) this season. A two-time ACC pitcher of the year, Hultzen is seventh in ACC history in career strikeouts and has been named first-team All-ACC three consecutive years.
In 103.1 innings this season, he has allowed 26 runs (18 earned), 69 hits and 17 walks. Batters are hitting just .189 against him. His 148 strikeouts leads the ACC and ranks second nationally.
Hultzen also has been a force at the plate and has seen more at bats this season. He is batting .336 with 34 runs batted in. He owns 10 doubles, two triples and a home run in 2011.
He is the first Virginia baseball player to earn first-team All-ACC honors three times in a career. Hultzen also is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and stands on the watch list for the John Olerud Two-Way Player Award.
Hultzen has been strong in the classroom as well and was named a 2011 Capital One First Team Academic All-American, becoming just the 20th Virginia student-athlete to earn this distinction.
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Chris Graham
