Twenty-One Players from the Southland Conference Selected in Draft
FRISCO, Texas ? A total of 21 Southland Conference student-athletes were selected in the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft this week in New York. The figure represents the third most selections in conference history, trailing the 25 who were picked in 1995 and the 24 in 2004.
Texas State first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, the 2009 Southland Conference Player and Hitter of the Year, was the first league player to hear his name called in the draft. He was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth round. Goldschmidt was a two-time first-team all-conference selection and a two-time hitter of the year. The junior set the single-season school record with 18 home runs this season and topped the career charts with 36 total from 2007 to 2009. Goldschmidt notched a team and league best 88 RBI, scored 72 runs and posted a .354 batting average. The Woodlands, Texas, native garnered third-team All-American honors by Collegiate Baseball and was a second-team CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America honors. Goldschmidt holds a 3.87 GPA in finance and was named Texas State’s Male Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2008 and 2009.
The New York Mets selected McNeese State catcher Taylor Freeman with their eighth-round pick. A first team all-Southland Conference pick, Freeman batted .333 this past season, belting 12 home runs and driving in 56 runs. A 6-2, 192 pound left-handed batter, Freeman had won the Cowboy triple crown in 2008, batting .372, hitting eight home runs and driving in 52 runs. He ranked among the national leaders in all three categories.
The Southland’s only other player to be selected in the first 10 rounds of the draft was Texas State catcher Ben Theriot. Theriot managed a .335 batting average in 2009 with a career-best six home runs. He earned second-team all-conference honors with 245 putouts, 37 assists and a .983 fielding percentage. With Theriot behind the plate, base runners were 6-for-19 in stolen base attempts.
A total of four Texas State players were selected in the draft. Right-handed pitchers Kane Holbrooks and Lance Loftin were selected in the 21st and 26th round, respectively. Lamar also had four players picked with right-handed pitchers Ricky Testa going in the 18th round and James Brandhorst going in the 20th round. Brian Needham, another right hander was picked in the 28th round, while lefty Kevin Angelle was taken in the 32nd round.
Stephen F. Austin had three players selected, while McNeese State, Nicholls, UT Arlington and UTSA each had two players selected. Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana each had two players go in the 50-round draft.
Southland in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft