Virginia baseball players Nic Kent and Zach Messinger were selected on the final day of the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft.
Kent was the taken in the 11th round (320th overall) by the Colorado Rockies while Messinger went to the New York Yankees in the 13th round (393rd overall).
Kent, a three-year starter in the middle infield, played in 130-straight games to close out his UVA career. He started all 63 at shortstop in 2021 and led the team with 45 RBI. He belted a career-best eight home runs including a solo blast in a comeback win over Dallas Baptist in Game 3 of the Super Regional.
The junior also hit a pair of grand slams in 2021, the first in a 9-3 win over Georgia Tech on April 2. The victory sparked a 14-6 run over the team’s final 20 ACC games.
Kent was a first team All-ACC selection in 2019 and garnered Freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and D1Baseball.
Messinger logged 57 innings in 2021 making 28 appearances and four starts. The righthander fanned a career-high 64 batters and pitched to a 4.89 ERA. He logged innings in two of the Cavaliers ACC-best six shutouts.
In relief against VCU on April 10, Messinger struck out 10 batters in 4.1 innings, the first Cavalier reliever in school history to strike out 10 batters in a game.
After four Cavaliers were selected on Monday, the Cavaliers upped their total to six this year’s draft, the highest total since 2018.
Draft Summary
- Round 2 (53rd Overall) – Andrew Abbott – Cincinnati Reds
- Round 2 (60th Overall – Zack Gelof – Oakland Athletics
- Round 5 (145th Overall) – Griff McGarry – Philadelphia Phillies
- Round 8 (232nd Overall) – Mike Vasil – New York Mets
- Round 11 (320th Overall) – Nic Kent – Colorado Rockies
- Round 13 (393rd Overall) – Zach Messinger – New York Yankees
Draft Notes
- The Cavaliers have had six players selected in the first 15 rounds, five times – 2008, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2021.
- Virginia has had six or more players drafted nine times in program history, all have occurred in Brian O’Connor’s tenure (2004-present).
- A total of 90 MLB Draft selections have taken place in 18 seasons under head coach Brian O’Connor.
- Since the inception of the MLB Draft, a total of 139 Virginia baseball players have been selected
- Virginia was one of 10 schools with three or more selections in the first five rounds and one of five schools with two picks in the first two rounds.
- UVA was one of 15 schools to have four or more players selected in the first 10 rounds of the 2021 draft.
- Virginia has boasted multiple picks in the first and/or second rounds in five of the last eight years.
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Chris Graham
