15 more locals picked on final day of MLB Draft, bringing this year’s total to 20
Fifteen more local products were picked on Wednesday as the MLB Draft concluded on its final day.
Though quiet for the first few rounds on Wednesday, things soon picked up. In consecutive picks in the 23rd round, locals were selected.
Monarch’s Logan Soole went to the Arizona Diamondbacks with the first pick in the 23rd round (No. 676 overall). One selection later, Palmer Ridge alum Steven Leonard was taken by the Colorado Rockies at No. 677 overall.
As it turned out, that was only the beginning of local selections on the final day of the draft, which started on Monday.
Mullen alum Sam Haggerty went in the 24th round to Cleveland. Then, Douglas County graduate Tyler Servais was picked by the Detroit Tigers in the 27th round.
Two more went in the 29th round: Mullen alum Seth Davis to the New York Mets at No. 869 overall, and then Ralston Valley graduate Ben Yokley at No. 881 to St. Louis.
A round later, the 30th, Valor Christian alum Greg Popylisen was taken by Minnesota. In the 33rd round, Legacy’s Wyatt Cross was selected by the Rockies. In that same round, Eaglecrest alum Braxton Lorenzini was picked by San Diego.
The Rockies also picked Fairview’s Ryan Madden in the 35th round. Later in that round, Chaparral alum Jordan Serena was selected by the Angels.
In the 37th round, Mountain Vista’s Marc Mumper was selected by the Rockies. Later in the 37th, Regis Jesuit’s Matt Schmidt was picked by the New York Yankees. Two rounds after that, Schmidt’s teammate, Brent Schwarz, was selected by the Rockies.
It brought the three-day draft total to 20 local selections, including five on Tuesday. Of those, six were picked by the Rockies.
Local draft picks on Day 3 of 2015 MLB Draft
See the full list in our tracker
Logan Soole, Monarch (2015)
Soole, the 2015 graduate who is committed to Southern Illinois, was picked as a center fielder. He hit .518 with 22 RBIs and two home runs last season. He helped lead Monarch to the Final 8.
But Soole didn’t only star at the plate. He was also 6-1 with a 0.77 ERA in 45 2/3 innings, striking out 73 against just 12 walks.
Soole is just the second Monarch player to be selected straight out of high school. John Ray was picked in the 41st round by the Braves in 2003.
Steven Leonard, Palmer Ridge (2011)
A pick after Soole, Leonard went to the Rockies. It was their second local selection of the draft — they also took Rocky Mountain center fielder Cole Anderson in the tenth round.
Leonard, a 2011 Palmer Ridge grad, is now a redshirt sophomore at Campbell University in North Carolina. He spent 2012 and 2013 at Iowa Western Community College, where he helped the Reivers win a national championship.
A catcher, Leonard hit .328 with two home runs and 22 RBIs at Campbell last season.
Sam Haggerty, Mullen (2012)
Haggerty, a second baseman now at New Mexico, went to Cleveland in the 24th round with the No. 724 overall selection.
Haggerty graduated from Mullen in 2012, where he also played basketball.
He just completed his junior season at New Mexico. He hit .311 with a home run and 13 RBI in 29 games, and also stole six bases.
Tyler Servais, Douglas County (2011)
Servais, the Douglas County product who graduated in 2011, was picked by the Tigers in the 27th round. He was also selected out of high school, going in the 36th round to the Rockies.
A senior catcher at Princeton, he hit .200 with a home run and three RBIs this season. Behind the plate, Servais caught 10 of 45 runners attempting to steal.
Seth Davis, Mullen (2011)
Davis, the Mets’ 29th-round pick, graduated from Mullen in 2011. A left-handed pitcher, he is now a senior at Augustana (Ill.).
Last season, he was 5-2 with a 3.70 ERA in 65 2/3 innings. Davis struck out 92 against 12 walks.
Ben Yokley, Ralston Valley (2011)
Yokley also went in the 29th round, to the St. Louis Cardinals. He is a 2011 graduate of Ralston Valley.
The right-handed pitcher just finished his senior season at Air Force, where he was 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA in 34 innings spread out over 27 appearances. Yokley had 45 strikeouts to 25 walks.
Greg Popylisen, Valor Christian (2013)
Popylisen was a 30th-round pick of the Twins. He graduated from Valor Christian in 2013, and has been at El Paso Community College. The sophomore is committed to New Mexico State.
He is the first graduate of Valor Christian to be selected in the MLB Draft.
At Valor, Popylisen starred in both baseball and track. In fact, there was a day during the 4A baseball tournament where he had to hustle from the state track meet, which was going on at the same time a few blocks away, to one of Valor’s games.
Popylisen hit .364 with and 16 RBIs at El Paso last season, and also had 23 steals along with 38 runs scored.
Wyatt Cross, Legacy (2015)
Cross, the Legacy catcher who graduate this spring, became the third local product to be selected by the Rockies in the 33rd round. He is a North Carolina commit.
Though he played behind the plate, Cross didn’t hit at all last season due to a back injury. As a junior, he hit .302 with three home runs and 14 RBIs.
Cross is the third Legacy product to be drafted straight out of high school, following Lucas Gilbreath last season (36th round to the Rockies), and Kevin Walter in 2010 (26th round to the Phillies).
Braxton Lorenzini, Eaglecrest (2013)
Lorenzini, the 2013 Eaglecrest graduate, went to the San Diego Padres in the 33rd round. He is a right-handed pitcher at West Hills (Calif.) who spent a medical redshirt year at Central Christian in Kansas in 2014.
Lorenzini was 1-7 with a save and a 4.30 ERA at West Hills last season.
Ryan Madden, Fairview (2015)
Madden, a 2015 graduate, added to the long line of draftees for Fairview when the Rockies took him in the 35th round. He became the fifth Knight to be selected straight out of high school.
An Oklahoma commit, Madden starred this season. He was 7-2 with a 1.41 ERA and struck out 65 batters to 10 walks this season.
But Madden also tied for the Class 5A lead with seven home runs at the plate, and hit .446 with 29 RBIs.
Madden had his season end in the district rounds when he took a scary comebacker to his face. He has recovered well, and is pitching again in a summer league.
Jordan Serena, Chaparral (2011)
Serena, the 2011 Chaparral grad, also went in the 35th round. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim selected him.
Last season, Serena, a senior center fielder, hit .319 with two home runs and 23 RBIs. He also stole 21 bases.
Marc Mumper, Mountain Vista (2015)
Mumper, a shortstop who is committed to Grand Canyon (Ariz.), led the Golden Eagles to the 5A Final 4 this season.
The 2015 graduate hit .356 with two home runs and 22 RBIs this season, and was a key figure for Mountain Vista.
Matt Schmidt, Regis Jesuit (2015)
Schmidt graduated from Regis Jesuit this spring. A Texas commit, he was picked by the Yankees in the 37th round.
The third baseman hit .257 with four home runs and 17 RBIs this season.
He was the 13th Raider to be selected straight out of high school.
Brent Schwarz, Regis Jesuit (2015)
Schwarz, a right-handed pitcher, is also a 2015 graduate of Regis Jesuit.
He is committed to Rice. Schwarz was 3-4 with a 1.48 ERA in 52 innings this season. He struck out 65 against 26 walks.
On the heels of Schmidt’s selection, Schwarz became Regis Jesuit’s 14th selection straight from high school. It was the third consecutive draft that Regis has had two players selected.
