Future Oregon Duck Expects Pick in MLB Draft
A future Oregon Duck is projected to be picked in the first round of tonight’s MLB First-Year Player Draft. Carson Kelly is from Westview High School in Portland, Oregon, and has already chosen to attend college at Oregon next season. He passed over schools like Arizona State, Stanford, Oregon State and Portland.
Kelly is a right-handed pitcher and also plays third base. He was the 2010-2011 Gatorade Oregon Baseball Player of the Year and is currently battling to win the award this season. Other honors included being a member of the 2011 USA Baseball 18U National Team and a participant of the 2011 Under Armour All-American Game.
Offensively, Kelly hit .398 with five homeruns and 26 RBI’s. He had an on base at a .514 clip and also had a slugging percentage of .747. As a pitcher, he posted a 6-3 record with a 1.09 ERA with 80 strikeouts.
ESPN has him ranked as the 14th best high school prospect and the top prospect in Oregon. They also rank him as the fourth best player in the West Region and the seventh best pitcher. A scouting report by Jason Churchill is available at http://espn.go.com/highschool/baseball/recruiting/player/evaluation/_/id/145282/carson-kelly.
If Kelly doesn’t like his draft status, he will join the nine other freshmen in the 2012 Oregon recruiting class that features six pitchers, two outfielders and two catchers. The pitchers are Kelly, Cole Irvin, Garrett Cleavinger, Joshua Graham, Jared Priestley and Brandon Brown. The outfielders are Andrew Pullin and Nick Catalano. The catchers are Brett Bafaro and Casey Fithian.
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