Dennis Maffezzoli
| Special to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Ryan Waldschmidt is a Diamondback.
The former Braden River High, Charleston Southern, and University of Kentucky standout was taken with the 31st overall pick in Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday night.
Waldschmidt told the Diamondbacks media on a video call he expects to be in Arizona to finalize his contract soon.
“I think by the end of the week I’ll be heading out to Arizona to go through just the signing process and just getting comfortable out there,” he said. “I’m sure it’ll be a few weeks of just being comfortable getting to know each other, getting to know the coaches and the organization itself, and then hopefully I’ll be heading somewhere to compete again and play some games.”
2024 MLB Draft: Braden River’s Ryan Waldschmidt projected as a first-round pick on Sunday
Arizona received an extra compensation pick in the 2024 Draft, courtesy of the Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) because Corbin Carroll won the 2023 Rookie of the Year.
The pick, the first after the first round came to an end and directly after ESPN’s coverage of the opening round, comes with an approximate value of $2.9 million, according to MLB.com.
Waldschmidt, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound outfielder, was the No. 1 best-available pick, according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, when he was taken.
Waldschmidt overcame two horrific injuries and position changes to vault himself to the top of the draft list.
In high school, he suffered an elbow injury and concussion during a play at the plate during the final game of his freshman season. That forced him to serve exclusively as the Pirates’ designated hitter during his sophomore season.
In the middle of his sophomore and junior seasons at Kentucky, Waldschmidt tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee making a throw from the outfield in a Cape Cod League game.
He bounced back by finishing second on Kentucky in hitting with a .333 batting average with 14 home runs, 46 runs batted in and 25 stolen bases during his junior season.
During his sophomore season with the Wildcats, the right-handed hitter batted .290 with 14 doubles, five home runs, 37 EBI and 17 stolen bases while converting to the outfield on a full-time basis.
Waldschmidt began his collegiate career at Charleston Southern, one of two Division I universities in the Big South to offer him a scholarship. In his only season with the Buccaneers, he hit .310 with a team-high 1.044 OPS (on base plus slugging), walking 12 more times than he struck out (36-24) as Charleston Southern’s third baseman.
“I think I’ve always kind of had the natural ability to just kind of differentiate balls from strikes,” he told the Arizona media. “When you swing at good pitches, you usually have a better chance of doing damage and having good results. So, for me, it’s just making sure that I swing at as many good pitches as possible and then take those bad ones.”
As a junior at Braden River in 2020, Waldschmidt was hitting .414 when the season was cut short after eight games by the COVID pandemic.
As a senior with the Pirates, he batted .377 with a team-leading five doubles and four home runs.
Waldschmidt is the fifth player drafted at Braden River and undoubtedly the highest. Others were pitchers Tyler Dyson (5th round Washington), Jordan Guerrero (6th round San Diego), Austin Platt (26th round Arizona) and outfielder Myles Straw (12th round Houston). Straw is the only Braden River player to reach the majors, having played with Houston and Cleveland.
In the mock drafts, MLB.com’s Jim Callis had Waldschmidt going 20th overall to Toronto. MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo had Atlanta selecting Waldschmidt with the 24th selection. MLB.com ranked Waldschmidt as the 23rd-best prospect.
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Publish date : 2024-07-14 22:11:20
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