Virginia junior left-handed pitcher Bennett Sousa (North Palm Beach, Fla.) was selected by the Washington Nationals Wednesday in the final day of the 2017 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Sousa was picked in the 34th round (No. 1,033 overall).
Sousa was 3-0 with a 4.09 ERA while pitching in a team-high 24 games in 2017. All of his appearances came in relief. He worked 33 innings and racked up 44 strikeouts. In three seasons at Virginia, Sousa has pitched in 47 games, totaling 65 innings. He owns a 7-0 career record with a 5.68 ERA and 69 strikeouts.
Virginia finished with six selections in the 2017 MLB Draft, with five going in the top 10 rounds. It marks the seventh time in the last 11 years that UVA has had at least six picks in a draft. In head coach Brian O’Connor and his staff’s 14-year tenure, Virginia has had 75 players selected in the MLB Draft.
First baseman Pavin Smith (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.) and outfielder Adam Haseley (Jr., Windermere, Fla.) were selected seventh and eighth overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies, respectively. Right-handed pitcher Tommy Doyle (Jr., Vienna, Va.) was picked in the Competitive Balance B portion (No. 70 overall) following the second round by the Colorado Rockies. Infielder Ernie Clement (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) was chosen in the fourth round (No. 132 overall) by the Cleveland Indians, while right-handed pitcher Alec Bettinger (Sr., Woodbridge, Va.) was selected in the 10th round (No. 294) by the Milwaukee Brewers.
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Chris Graham
