Auburn, USA, ASU, Montevallo, Troy get on the board at the MLB draft

Pitcher Chase Allsup got Auburn on the board at Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft, and prospects from South Alabama, Alabama State, Montevallo and Troy followed as the first picks from their schools in the 60th annual event on Monday.

MLB teams chose 241 players on Monday, picking up the picks with the third round after selecting 74 players on Sunday night.

The prospects who played at Alabama high schools and colleges who were picked during the third through 10th rounds of the baseball draft on Monday included:

· The Miami Marlins chose Alabama second baseman Gage Miller in the third round at No. 92.

· The Baltimore Orioles chose Auburn pitcher Chase Allsup (Dothan) in the fourth round at No. 127.

· The Kansas City Royals chose Tennessee pitcher A.J. Causey (Sparkman, Jacksonville State) in the fifth round at No. 138.

· The Kansas City Royals chose Texas A&M pitcher Tanner Jones (Thorsby, Jacksonville State) in the sixth round at No. 167.

· The Boston Red Sox chose South Alabama outfielder Will Turner (Auburn High) in the seventh round at No. 207.

· The San Francisco Giants chose Alabama pitcher Greg Farone in the seventh round at No. 208.

· The Houston Astros chose South Alabama outfielder Joseph Sullivan (Vestavia Hills) in the seventh round at No. 223.

· The Los Angeles Angels chose Alabama State shortstop Randy Flores in the eighth round at No. 232.

· The Atlanta Braves chose Montevallo pitcher Logan Samuels (Winfield City) in the eighth round at No. 251.

· The New York Yankees chose Auburn pitcher Tanner Bauman in the ninth round at No. 271.

· The Toronto Blue Jays chose Mississippi State pitcher Colby Holcombe (Central-Florence) in the ninth round at No. 277.

· The Los Angeles Dodgers chose Troy outfielder Kole Myers in the ninth round at No. 280.

Those 12 prospects joined the four who played at Alabama high schools and colleges who were picked on Sunday night:

· The New York Yankees chose Alabama pitcher Ben Hess in the first round at No. 26.

· The New York Yankees chose Vanderbilt pitcher Bryce Cunningham (Headland) in the second round at No. 53.

· The Miami Marlins chose Oxford High School shortstop Carter Johnson in the second round at No. 56.

· The Cincinnati Reds chose LSU pitcher Luke Holman (Alabama) in Competitive Balance Round B at No. 71.

A 6-foot-4 right-hander, Samuels came off the draft board earlier than any of the 17 previous prospects drafted from Montevallo. He came in 28 picks before outfielder Rusty Greer, who played 1,027 games across nine seasons for the Texas Rangers after being selected with the 279th choice of the 1990 draft.

In his fourth season with the Falcons, Samuels posted a 3-5 record with a 5.43 earned-run average in 14 games, including 13 starts. In 59.2 innings, he struck out 69 and walked 15 in 2024. In 2023, Samuels had a 7-1 record.

In his third season at Auburn, Allsup posted a 4-3 record with a 5.63 ERA in 13 games, with 11 starts. The right-hander had 74 strikeouts and 16 walks in 62.1 innings in 2024. An All-State selection as a senior at Dothan, Allsup had a 9-1 record with a 1.73 ERA and 107 strikeouts in his final high school season in 2021.

A 6-foot-5 left-hander, Bauman pitched two seasons at Auburn. In 2024, he posted a 3-2 record with a 4.57 ERA in 20 games, with six starts. Bauman had 47 strikeouts and 16 walks in 41.1 innings last season.

Primarily a third baseman for Alabama, Miller was listed as a second baseman by the Marlins. In his one season at Alabama, Miller led the Crimson Tide in hits, home runs, RBIs, runs, total bases, on-base average and slugging percentage in 2024. He came to Alabama from Bishop State in Mobile, where he had 103 runs, 100 RBIs, 15 home runs and 38 stolen bases in 100 games for the Wildcats.

A transfer from Louisville, Farone also played only one season at Alabama. The 6-foot-6 left-hander went 4-3 with a 5.02 ERA in 17 games, with 16 starts. Farone struck out 68 and walked 24 in 71.2 innings in 2004.

The Royals drafted two SEC pitchers on Monday who were Alabama high school standouts and former Jacksonville State teammates. Causey had a 13-3 record and 125 strikeouts in 91.1 innings for Tennessee’s College World Series championship team in 2024. Jones went 3-1 in 12 starts for Texas A&M last season. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons at JSU, Jones was 9-7 in 37 games, including 25 starts, and Causey was 9-6 in 40 games, including 15 starts.

South Alabama’s Tuesday selections came within shouting distance of each other in the seventh round. An AHSAA Class 7A state champion at Auburn and a three-year starter for the Jaguars, Turner’s batting average dipped to .218 in 2024, but he hit .349 with a .591 slugging percentage in 2023. The grandson of Auburn Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan, Joseph Sullivan also played three seasons at USA. He hit .266 in 2024 after batting .304 in 2023.

After batting .366 and leading the SWAC in stolen bases in 2024, Flores became the second earliest draft choice from Alabama State. He came in 30 picks behind shortstop Emmanuel Marrero, who was the 202nd choice in the 2014 draft. The Angels listed Flores as a shortstop, but he played primarily second base this season for the Hornets.

Myers batted .323 and, with 62 walks, posted a .487 on-base average for Troy in 2024. Across his two seasons with the Trojans, Myers hit 25 home runs.

A 6-foot-6 right-hander, Holcombe struck out 77 in 57.2 innings during his two seasons with Mississippi State.

Two players were picked on Tuesday who spent a season apiece at Alabama without playing. The Red Sox chose State College of Florida pitcher Brandon Clarke at No. 148, and the Seattle Mariners chose Campbell catcher/pitcher Grant Knipp at No. 183. Knipp was with the Crimson Tide in 2021, and Clarke was at Alabama in 2022.

The MLB First-Year Player Draft concludes on Tuesday with the 11th through 20th rounds, starting at 1 p.m. CDT. MLB.com will stream the selections.