Two Ohio Valley Conference pitchers were selected on the first day of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Eastern Illinois lefty Tyler Kehrer was selected by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 48th overall (Comp Round A) while Jacksonville State righty Ben Tootle was selected in the third round (pick No. 101 overall) by the Minnesota Twins.
Day two of the draft (rounds 4-30) will begin at Noon eastern time on Wednesday. The draft will conclude on Thursday with rounds 31-50 (beginning at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time).
Kehrer is a junior left-hander from New Baden, Ill. Should he sign with the Angels, as expected, he would forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility. He is the highest EIU player selected in the annual MLB Draft since Stan Royer was picked in the first round (16th overall) by the Oakland Athletics in 1988. Kehrer is also third-highest EIU draftee overall.
The Angels received the 48th pick in the compensation portion of the first round after losing Jon Garland to the Arizona Diamondbacks as a free-agent signee.
Kehrer led the OVC in strikeouts (90) and batting average (.213) against in 2009, helping lead EIU to a regular-season conference title. His most dominate performance of the season with a complete-game one-hitter against SIU Edwardsville April 26 in Charleston. He struck out a career-high 14, the second of his three double-figure strikeout performances of the season. SIU Edwardsville did not hit a fair ball out of the infield.
Tootle becomes the fourth Gamecock player to be drafted in the third round or higher and the first since Bill White was taken as the 99th overall pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2000. He was the first player from an Alabama college taken in this year’s draft.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity to play for the Minnesota Twins,” Tootle said Tuesday night. “I was expecting to be picked somewhere between the first and third rounds and got picked in the third round, so I’m pretty happy with that.”
Tootle has a career 19-9 record during his three-year career for the Gamecocks and a 4.83 earned run average. The Oxford, Ala., native made 43 career starts and recorded 225 2/3 innings on the mound with 204 career strikeouts.
The hard throwing right-hander pitched for Falmouth in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League last summer, where he was selected to the All-Star team after posting a 1.97 earned run average in 22 appearances.
He becomes the fourth player drafted over the last three years for Jacksonville State head coach Jim Case.