Ten VBLers Taken in MLB Draft’s Second Day

The major league draft covering rounds two through ten was held today (with 11-20 coming tomorrow), and a total of ten former Valley Leaguers were chosen.

Let’s take a look:

Round	Overall Pick	Name	Position	College	ML Team	VBL Team
2	41	Connor Norby	2B	East Carolina	Balitmore	Waynesboro 19
5	140	Evan Justice	LHP	NC State	Colorado	Charlottesville 18
6	177	Carlos Rodriguez	RHP	Florida Southwestern	Milwaukee	Charlottesville 21
7	205	Christian McGowan	RHP	Eastern Oklahoma State	Philadelphia	Strasburg 19
8	242	Hunter Gregory	RHP	Old Dominion	Toronto	Charlottesville 18
9	264	Spencer Packard	OF	Campbell	Seattle	Front Royal 18
9	281	Alex Ayala	RHP	Florida Southwestern	Tampa Bay	Charlottesville 21
9	282	Lael Lockhart	LHP	Arkansas	Los Angeles D	Woodstock 19
10	284	CJ Widger	LHP	Rowan	Texas	Staunton 21
10	297	Wes Clarke	C	South Carolina	Milwaukee	Waynesboro 19

Quick Notes

• Most years, the VBL averages one pick per round over the entire draft, so the league is right on pace after 10 rounds.
• Connor Norby was rumored to have the potential to slip into the first round, but he went 41st overall to Baltimore. Close, but not in the first round. He is, however, the league’s highest draft pick since Nate Pearson was picked 28th in 2017.
• Charlottesville is crushing the rest of the league so far with four picks, a cool 40% of the total. Waynesboro is second with two, and Strasburg, Front Royal, Woodstock, and Staunton all have one. Covington, Winchester, Purcellville, New Market, and Harrisonburg will have to wait until tomorrow.
• Interesting that seven of the ten picks are pitchers. IN the last full draft, in 2019, 22 pitchers were picked out of 49 total- less than half.
• Tomorrow should be interesting. I would expect the following players to be drafted at some point- New Market’s Oraj Anu, Winchester’s Jonny Butler, Charlottesville’s Sam Crawford and Kyle Battle, and a handful of 2021 guys. Let’s see if I’m right!

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