June 5, 2012
Sun Devils in the MLB Draft 1965-2011
Features on DeMichele:
Chicago Tribune
Features on Marrero:
NESN | ESPN.com Boston | WEEI
ARIZONA STATE IN THE DRAFT
Deven Marrero, 24th overall, 1st round, Boston Red Sox - Photo Gallery - A Look At Marrero
Brady Rodgers, 96th overall, 3rd round, Houston Astros - Photo Gallery - A Look At Rodgers
Joey DeMichele, 108th overall, 3rd round, Chicago White Sox - Photo Gallery - A Look At DeMichele
Jake Barrett, 120th overall, 3rd round, Arizona Diamondbacks - Photo Gallery - A Look At Barrett
Andrew Aplin, 159th overall, 5th round, Houston Astros - Photo Gallery - A Look At Aplin
TEMPE, Ariz. - Four more Arizona State baseball student-athletes were selected on Tuesday in the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft, giving the Sun Devils a total of five through the first 15 rounds. Three were taken in the third round, including two by their hometown teams, and one was selected in the fifth round.
This is the first time since 1984 that five Sun Devils have been selected in the first five rounds of the draft.
Junior right-hander Brady Rodgers, a native of Richmond, Texas, was taken by the Houston Astros with the first pick in the third round. Joey DeMichele, a junior infielder, was selected by the Chicago White Sox with the 108th overall pick in the third round. Junior right-hander Jake Barrett, who hails from Mesa, Ariz., was picked up by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 120th overall pick in the third round. Andrew Aplin, a junior outfielder, will join Rodgers as he was also taken by the Astros with the first pick in the fifth round.
Rodgers finished his career with a 2.39 ERA in 286 total innings, which puts him second on the school's career "Best Earned Run Average" list behind Floyd Bannister (74-76), who had a 1.88 ERA in 396.2 innings pitched. A three-time Pac-12 All-Conference recipient, he was named to the First Team Pac-12 All-Conference First Team, Collegiate Baseball Louisville Slugger All-America Second Team and the College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher of the Year Watch List this season. He walked just 36 batters in three seasons at ASU and went 18-3 in his career at Packard Stadium, giving up 26 earned runs and 14 walks in 168.1 innings pitched.
DeMichele, a two-time First Team Pac-12 All-Conference selection in 2011 and 2012, finished his three-year career with a .346 (145-419) batting average and a .592 slugging percentage. A native of Phoenix, he is just the sixth Sun Devil all-time to led the team in batting average in consecutive seasons (2011-12) and is the first to do so since Brett Wallace paced the team from 2006-08. He is also a two-time Academic All-Conference honoree and majored in finance.
Barrett earned Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention recognition this season after recording 11 saves, which is tied for the third-most in a single season in school history and were third most in the Pac-12 this season. He is tied for ninth place on the school's career saves list with 13 and made 73 appearances in his three seasons at ASU, which is the seventh-most all-time in school history. He served as the team's closer this season after being used primarily as an 8th-inning reliever his freshman season and as a starter his sophomore year.
Aplin set career highs in batting average, games played, runs, hits, RBI and walks this season en route to receiving Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention recognition. He was one of two players to rank in the top five on the team in batting average, slugging percentage and on base percentage, and was first on the team and fourth in the Pac-12 with 52 runs scored.
The ASU baseball program has now had 384 players drafted by the Major Leagues, which is the most all-time among NCAA schools. Former Sun Devil outfielder Rick Monday was the first-ever MLB Draft pick in 1965 when he was selected No. 1 overall by the Kansas City Athletics.
Three 2013 signees were taken on Tuesday, including Keiran Lovegrove in the third round (110th overall) to the Cleveland Indians, Ryan Kellogg in the 12th round (385th overall) to the Toronto Blue Jays and Chris Flexen in the 14th round (440th overall) to the New York Mets.
Lovegrove is from Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo, Calif., and Flexen, is from Newark Memorial High School in Newark, Calif. Kellogg is from Henry Street High School in Whitby, Ontario, Canada.
Two 2013 signees were taken in the compensatory round on Monday. Mitch Nay, an infielder from Hamilton High School in Chandler, Ariz., was taken with the 58th overall pick by the Toronto Blue Jays. He was named the ESPN Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year as the state's top player. Paul Blackburn, who is from Heritage High School in Oakley, Calif., went 56th overall to the Chicago Cubs.
A total of seven 2013 ASU baseball signees have been drafted in the first 15 rounds of the MLB draft.