UVA Baseball sophomore Tanner Morris was taken in the fifth round (147th overall) by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2019 MLB Draft.
With the selection of Morris, a Cavalier has been selected in the first five rounds in each of the last 10 seasons.
Morris, a native of nearby Crozet, was Virginia’s top hitter in 2019 and one of the most consistent bats in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He posted team bests in batting average (.345), hits (77) doubles (21), home runs (5), slugging percentage (.507), walks (41) and on-base percentage (.452). His 21 doubles were tied for the sixth most in a single season in program history.
He followed up ACC All-Freshman Team honors with a Third Team All-ACC selection at shortstop in 2019. Morris elevated his game in league play, batting .370 (47-for-127) with 12 doubles, two home runs and 18 RBI in 30 games.
Morris began the season reaching base safely in his first 15 games. He failed to reach base in only four of Virginia’s 56 games and finished the season on a 16-game reached base streak.
Morris started all 56 games at shortstop for the Cavaliers in 2019 and last year was just the fourth true freshman shortstop in head coach Brian O’Connor’s 16-year tenure at Virginia. He served as the team’s leadoff hitter in 73 games during his career, including 33 of the team’s final 34 games of 2019.
Counting Morris, a total of 82 of the program’s 130 MLB Draft selections have come under O’Connor’s watch.
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Chris Graham
