July 30, 2010

2010 UT Arlington Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Notes

ARLINGTON, Texas -

UT ARLINGTON HAS PRODUCED 92 MLB DRAFT/FREE AGENT SELECTIONS
The UTA baseball program began in 1969, since 1973 there have been 92 Major League Baseball Draft or free agent selections. There have been 46 draft picks, including 20 during the past 11 years.

BREAKDOWN OF MAVERICK DRAFT PICKS
UT Arlington has had 46 draft picks since 1973. Overall, there has been at least one Maverick drafted in 29 MLB Drafts, with 11 drafts containing at least two UT Arlington players. The 2010 MLB Draft saw the most Mavericks drafted with four (Michael Choice, 1st (10th overall); Rett Varner, 6th; Jason Mitchell 15th, Logan Bawcom 17th).

Draft Rounds: Players Selected
1st-10th Round: 10
11th-20th Round: 8
21st-30th: 19
31st-40th: 5
41st-53rd: 4

CONSISTENCY IN THE DRAFT
There has been at least one Maverick drafted/signed free agent contract in 23 of the last 24 drafts (1987-2010). In fact, in all but two of those years (1997, 2000) there were multiple UTA players who were drafted or signed free agent deals. The only season over the last 23 years that UTA was not represented in the draft or with a player signing a free agent contract was in 2008.

HIGHEST DRAFTED MAVERICK - Michael Choice (1ST ROUND - 10TH OVERALL)
Former Maverick and current Houston Astros outfielder Hunter Pence (2nd round - 64th overall) used to be the highest drafted Maverick in school history before UTA standout Michael Choice was taken 10th overall in the first round by the Oakland Athletics on Monday, June 7, 2010. Choice is the first ever Maverick selected in the first round of the draft. Overall, there have been six Maverick drafted in the top five rounds.

UTA Top 5 Round Draft Picks
2010 - Michael Choice, OF (Oakland Athletics, 1st Round - 10th overall)
2004 - Hunter Pence, OF (Houston Astros, 2nd Round - 64th overall)
1999 - John Lackey, RHP (LA Angels, 2nd Round - 68th overall)
2002 - Daniel Ortmeier, OF (San Francisco Giants, 3rd Round - 97th overall)
1991 - Larry Hanlon, SS (Texas Rangers, 3rd Round - 93rd overall)
2004 - Mark Lowe, RHP (Seattle Mariners, 5th Round - 153rd overall)

MAVERICKS DRAFTED/SIGNED BY 28 MLB ORGANIZATIONS
In the history of UTA baseball, there has been at least one Maverick drafted or signed by 28 of 30 Major League Baseball organizations. Only the Minnesota Twins and the newly-founded Arizona Diamondbacks (1998) have not selected or signed a UTA player. Overall, 46 players have gone to American League teams with 46 players drafted/signed by National League clubs. The American League West (21) is the division that has drafted/signed the most Mavs while the hometown Texas Rangers (10) is the organization that has taken the most UTA players (most recently Tim Steggall, RHP, as a free agent in 2009). The New York Mets have taken the second most UTA players with seven while Houston and Milwaukee each have five and the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics and LA Angels have all drafted/signed four Mavericks. In addition, the Montreal Expos drafted/signed three Mavericks (1985, 1993, 2001) before the organization was moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals prior to the 2005 season.

Texas 10
New York Mets 7
Houston 5
Milwaukee 5
Cincinnati 4
Cleveland 4
Kansas City 4
LA Angels 4
Oakland 4
New York Yankees 4
Chicago White Sox 3
Florida 3
LA Dodgers 3
San Francisco 3
Seattle 3
Montreal/Wash. 3
Atlanta 2
Baltimore 2
Boston 2
Chicago Cubs 2
Colorado 2
Detroit 2
Philadelphia 2
Pittsburgh 2
San Diego 2
Tampa Bay 2
Toronto 2
St. Louis 1

UT ARLINGTON PLAYERS DRAFTED/SIGNED BY POSITION
Over half of the Maverick draft/free agent selections have been pitchers, with 47 of the Mavericks 92 drafted/free agent picks have been pitchers. In fact, there have been 38 right-handed pitchers taken and 9 left-handed pitchers. A total of 18 UTA infielders have been drafted/signed along with 17 outfielders, nine catchers and one two-way player (Marc Manwarren, OF/RHP, Houston Astros - Free Agent - 1995). Overall the past seven years UTA pitchers have grabbed the headlines with 19 of the 24 UTA players selected being left or right-handed pitchers. Since 2007, 11 of the Mavs¡¯ 12 draft picks have been pitchers.

Mavericks Drafted/Signed by Position
Pitchers - 47
RHP - 38
LHP - 9
Catchers - 9
Infielders - 18
Outfielders - 17
Two-way players ¨C 1

MOST UT ARLINGTON PLAYERS DRAFTED/SIGNED
6 - 2009
5 - 2005, 2003, 1981
4 - 2010, 2004, 2001, 1999, 1991, 1985, 1982
3 - 2006, 1998, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1989, 1988
2 - 2007, 2002, 1996, 1990, 1987, 1979
1 - 2010, 2000, 1997, 1983, 1980, 1978, 1976, 1973

TOP DRAFTED MAVERICK BY POSITION
Pitcher - John Lackey (1999, 2nd Round - LA Angels)
RHP - John Lackey (1999, 2nd Round - LA Angels)
LHP - Bruce Pool (1992, 22nd Round - New York Yankees)
C - Adam Moore (2006, 6th Round - Seattle Mariners)
INF - Larry Hanlon (1991, 3rd Round - Texas Rangers)
OF - Michael Choice (2010, 1st Round - Oakland Athletics)

CONSECUTIVE YEARS WITH A DRAFT PICK IN THE TOP 30 ROUNDS
9 - 1999-2007 (four top-10 round selections)

CONSECUTIVE YEARS WITH A DRAFT PICK/FREE AGENT SIGNING
21 - 1987-2007 (19 years with at least a draft pick/2 years with at least a free agent signing)

UT ARLINGTON RANKS SECOND IN THE SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE WITH 46 DRAFT PICKS
Only one program in the Southland Conference (Lamar, 59) has more Major League Baseball Draft picks than the UT Arlington program who has 46 draft picks since 1973. There are five Southland Conference programs that have at least 30 draft selections, including McNeese State, who is right behind UTA with 41.

Lamar - 59
UT Arlington - 46
McNeese State - 41
Texas State - 38
Sam Houston State - 37
Northwestern State - 21
UTSA - 20
Nicholls - 20
Stephen F. Austin - 13
Southeastern Louisiana - 10
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - 1
Central Arkansas - 1
Louisiana-Monroe - 41 *
Louisiana Tech - 26 *
Arkansas State - 13 *
Trinity - 7 *
Louisiana-Lafayette - 6 *
Abilene Christian - 1 *
Total Draft Picks - 397
* No longer competes in the Southland

SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE MLB FIRST-ROUND SELECTIONS
In Southland Conference history there have been only seven players selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft. The highest drafted players in Southland Conference history are UT Arlington¡¯s Michael Choice (OF, 1st round - 10th overall - Oakland in 2010) and Louisiana-Monroe¡¯s Ben Sheets (RHP, 1st round - 10th overall - Milwaukee in 1999). No school in the conference has ever had two first-round picks, as UT Arlington, Louisiana-Monroe, Sam Houston State, Texas State, McNeese State, UTSA and Southeastern Louisiana all have one. The last Southland player to go in the first round was UT Arlington¡¯s Michael Choice, who was selected by the Oakland Athletics with the 10th overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft first round.

Southland Conference MLB First-Round Draft Picks
2010 - Michael Choice - OF (UTA), Oakland Athletics - 10th overall)
1999 - Ben Sheets - P (ULM), (Milwaukee Brewers - 10th overall)
1980 - Glenn Wilson - 3B (SHSU), (Detroit Tigers - 18th overall)
2000 - Blake Williams - P (TXST), (St. Louis - 24th overall)
2005 - Jacob Marceaux - P (MCN), (Florida Marlins - 29th overall)
2002 - Mark Schmarek - 3B (UTSA), (Cincinnati Reds - 40th overall)
2008 - Wade Miley - P (SLU), (Arizona Diamondbacks - 43rd overall)

2010 MLB DRAFT NOTES
UT Arlington Notes:
- Four draft picks are the most in UTA history for a single draft
- Most draft picks in the top 20 rounds in UTA history
- Second time in school history with two draft picks in the top six rounds... (2004 - Hunter Pence, 2nd round, Houston; Mark Lowe, 5th round, Seattle)
- Eighth time UTA has had at least one top-10 round draft pick (2010, 2006, 2004, 2002, 1999, 1991, 1979, 1973)
- Marks the most UTA pitchers ever selected in one draft
- Marks the most pitchers drafted/signed in a two year span in UTA history with nine pitchers (5 drafted/four FA) the last two years.
- 10th time in school history that at least four Mavericks had been drafted/signed free agent contracts and the sixth time since 2001... marks the second straight season that at least four Mavericks had been drafted/signed free agent contracts and is the fourth time in UTA history at least four Mavericks were drafted/signed in consecutive years (2009-2010, 2004-2005, 2003-2004, 1981-1982).
- There have been 35 MLB Draft picks/free agent selections during head coach Darin Thomas¡¯ coaching tenure at UTA since 2001.

Southland Conference Notes
- UTA has a conference-leading 29 years with at least one selection in the MLB Draft... Sam Houston State is second with 28 years having at least one draft pick
- UTA is third in the conference with 20 players drafted since 2000... Lamar has the most players drafted in that span with 33 and Texas State is second with 22
- UTA had the most players in the conference selected in the top 20 rounds of the draft, with five other SLC schools had one player taken in the first 20 rounds
- UTA had the second most players in the conference drafted with four (Northwestern State, 5)
- UTA and Northwestern State each had the most pitchers (3) selected in the 2010 draft with three each
- Marked just the fourth time in league history and the first time since 2007 that a program had four draft picks in the top 20 rounds... Lamar was the last in 2007 (5th, 6th, 10th, 13th) while Louisiana-Monroe had the most players drafted in the top 20 rounds in 2004 with five (7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 14th) and McNeese State also have four draft picks in 1995 (5th, 12th, 12th, 17th)
- UTA was the only program with all three conference starting pitchers drafted (Rett Varner - 6th, Jason Mitchell - 15th, Logan Bawcom - 17)
- UTA is the first program in conference history to have all three conference starters drafted in the top 17 rounds
- It marked only the fourth time in conference history that a team had all three conference starters drafted... Lamar (2006, Stephen McFarland, 9th round - Pittsburgh; William Delage, 14th round - Cleveland; Derrick Gordon, 26th round - Oakland), Louisiana-Monroe (2004, Matthew Guillory, 11th round - Pittsburgh Pirates; Ryan Schwabe, 23rd round - Baltimore; Justin Lensch, 37th round - Texas) and Northwestern State (1998, Brian Lawrence, 17th round - San Diego; Allen Davis, 24th round - LA Dodgers; Chris Brown, 33rd round - Chicago Cubs)

Michael Choice Notes
- 1st Round (10th overall) - Oakland Athletics
- Agreed to terms with Oakland Athletics for a $2 million signing bonus on Wednesday, July 28, 2010
- Became the second top-10 pick to agree to terms on a signing bonus (Christian Colon - 4th - Kansas City)
- Became highest drafted player in UTA history (Hunter Pence, 2004, 64th overall - Houston Astros)
- Choice and former Louisiana-Monroe RHP Ben Sheets are the highest drafted players in Southland Conference history (1999 - 10th overall - Milwaukee Brewers)
- Highest drafted collegiate outfielder since 2006 (Drew Stubbs, Texas - 8th overall - Cincinnati Reds)
- First overall collegiate outfielder drafted
- Second overall collegiate player from the state of Texas drafted (Barret Loux, Texas A&M - 6th overall - Arizona Diamondbacks)
- Third overall player from 2009 USA Baseball National Team drafted (Christian Colon - 4th; Drew Pomeranz - 5th)
- Third overall collegiate position player drafted (Bryce Harper - C - 1st; Christian Colon - SS - 4th)
- Fifth overall position player drafted (Bryce Harper - C - 1st; Manny Machado - SS - 3rd; Christian Colon - SS - 4th; Delino DeShields Jr. - CF - 8th)
- One of only 10 UTA players all-time to be drafted in the top 10 rounds
- One of only six UTA players all-time to be drafted in the top 5 rounds
- One of only three UTA outfielders to be drafted in the top 5 rounds (2004: Hunter Pence - 2nd round - Houston; 2000: Daniel Ortmeier - 3rd round - San Francisco)
- Fourth UTA player to be drafted/signed free agent by Oakland Athletics (2009: 26th round - Nathan Long - RHP; 1999: 21st round - Cade Sanchez - RHP; 1996: Free Agent - Randy Glaze - RHP)... Choice is the first UTA position player to be drafted/signed by the Athletics
- Marks 18th UTA outfielder to be drafted/signed and first since 2005 (Nathan Warrick - 34th round - Houston)... six UTA OF have been drafted/signed since 2000

Rett Varner Notes
- 6th Round (197th overall) - Florida Marlins
- Signed contract with Florida Marlins on June 10, 2010
- Became eighth highest drafted player in UTA history
- Became third highest drafted pitcher in UTA history (2004, Mark Lowe - 5th round - Seattle; 1999, John Lackey - 2nd round - LA Angels)
- Highest drafted UTA pitcher since 2004 (Mark Lowe - 5th round - Seattle)
- Second Maverick pitcher to be drafted in the top 10 rounds since 2000 (2004, Mark Lowe - 5th round - Seattle)
- Highest drafted pitcher in the Southland Conference in this year¡¯s draft
- Highest drafted pitcher in the Southland Conference since 2008 (1st Round - Arizona Diamondbacks, Wade Miley - Southeastern Louisiana)
- Second right-handed pitcher drafted by Florida Marlins
- Third pitcher drafted by Florida Marlins
- Third Maverick to be drafted/signed by the Florida Marlins
- Marked the second straight year the Florida Marlins drafted/signed a UTA pitcher (2009 - Andrew Kainer - LHP)
- Marked the second time in UTA history that Florida Marlins drafted a Maverick (1995 - Jason Garrett - 1B, 44th Round)
- Became the 45th pitcher from UT Arlington to be drafted/sign with an MLB organization
- Became the 36th right-handed pitcher from UT Arlington to be drafted/sign with an MLB organization

Jason Mitchell Notes
- 15th Round (449th overall) - Kansas City Royals
- Signed contract with Kansas City Royals on June 15, 2010
- Became the 14th highest drafted player in UTA history
- Became the fifth highest drafted pitcher in UTA history
- Second highest drafted UTA pitcher since 2004 (Mark Lowe - 5th round - Seattle)
- Third Maverick pitcher to be drafted in the top 15 rounds since 2000 (2004, Mark Lowe - 5th round - Seattle; 2010, Rett Varner - 6th round - Florida)
- Seventh right-handed pitcher drafted by Kansas City Royals
- Ninth pitcher drafted by Kansas City Royals
- Fourth Maverick to be drafted/signed by the Kansas City Royals
- First Maverick to ever be drafted by the Kansas City Royals (three previous Mavericks signed as free agents)
- First Maverick to be signed by the Kansas City Royals since 1994 (David Upchurch - RHP - free agent)
- Third Maverick pitcher to be drafted/signed by the Kansas City Royals
- Became the 46th pitcher from UT Arlington to be drafted/sign with an MLB organization
- Became the 37th right-handed pitcher from UT Arlington to be drafted/sign with an MLB organization

Logan Bawcom Notes
- 17th Round (532nd overall) - Los Angeles Dodgers
- Signed contract with Los Angeles Dodgers on June 27, 2010
- Became the 15th highest drafted player in UTA history
- Became the sixth highest drafted pitcher in UTA history
- Third highest drafted UTA pitcher since 2004 (Mark Lowe - 5th round - Seattle; 2010, Rett Varner - 6th Round - Florida)
- Fourth Maverick pitcher to be drafted in the top 17 rounds since 2000 (2004, Mark Lowe - 5th round - Seattle; 2010, Rett Varner - 6th round - Florida; 2010, Jason Mitchell - 15th round - Kansas City)
- Fourth right-handed pitcher drafted by LA Dodgers
- Eighth pitcher drafted by LA Dodgers
- Third Maverick to be drafted/signed by the LA Dodgers
- First Maverick to ever be drafted by the LA Dodgers (two previous Mavericks signed as free agents)
- First Maverick to be signed by the LA Dodgers since 2007 (Matt Sartor - RHP - free agent)
- Third Maverick pitcher to be drafted/signed by the LA Dodgers
- Became the 47th pitcher from UT Arlington to be drafted/sign with an MLB organization
- Became the 38th right-handed pitcher from UT Arlington to be drafted/sign with an MLB organization