MLB Draft: 10 more Colorado products selected; 33rd straight year of double-digit picks
Colorado high school baseball continues to produce professional draft picks.
On Wednesday, the third and final day of the MLB Draft, ten more locals were drafted, including a pair of former and current teammates. It means that 14 local players were drafted this year.
That total marks the 33rd-straight season that Colorado has produced double-digit draft picks, dating back to 1985.
Regis Jesuit alum David Peterson was selected in Monday’s first round, while three more former Colorado high school baseball players were taken on Tuesday.
On Wednesday:
- Rocky Mountain alums Tyler Stevens and Carl Stajduhar were each taken in the 18th round, 12 selections apart.
- Before them, Legend graduate Peyton Remy was drafted in the 17th round.
- Rock Canyon’s Matt Givin became the first current high school senior off the board when he was drafted in the 20th round.
- In the 22nd round, Niwot senior Skyler Messinger became the first player from his school drafted since 2008.
- Heritage’s Casey Opitz followed in the footsteps of his brothers when he was taken in the 27th round. He is the third Opitz brother to be drafted.
- A round later, another Heritage Eagle, Jacob Hilton, was drafted.
- It was back to alumni in the 31st round, when Pine Creek grad Reagan Biechler was drafted by the Rockies.
- Broomfield senior James Notary was drafted in the 35th round.
- Three rounds later, the Rockies picked up another local player in Drake Davis of Ralston Valley.
Remy led the list of locals picked on the third day, going in the 17th round, No. 525 overall, to the Chicago Cubs.
Remy, a sophomore right-handed pitcher at Central Arizona College, was 4-6 with two saves and a 3.28 ERA in 85 innings pitched this season. He started 14 games, and struck out 90 batters.
A 2015 graduate of Legend, Remy played baseball and football for the Titans. He was a second-team all-state selection in baseball as a senior.
Remy is the fourth player to ever be drafted out of Legend.
Stevens and Stajduhar helped Rocky Mountain win the Class 5A champions as seniors. The duo were first-team all-state selections in 2014, and Stajduhar was the 5A player of the year.
Both just finished their junior seasons at the University of New Mexico. Their selections now gives Rocky Mountain 15 total draftees in the program’s history.
Stevens was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in at No. 535 overall. The right-handed pitcher was 7-6 with a 4.81 ERA and 102 strikeouts against 27 walks in 97.1 innings.
Stajduhar, the first local position player drafted this season, hit .350 with 17 home runs and 69 RBIs — both of which led the Lobos this season. He went No. 547 overall.
In the 20th round, Rock Canyon’s Givin went to the Miami Marlins at No. 599 overall. Drafted as a right-handed pitcher, Givin was 5-1 with a 1.48 ERA as a senior. He struck out 76 against 14 walks in 52 innings.
Givin, a first-time all-state honoree this spring, also played middle infield for the Jaguars, and hit .532 with four home runs and 25 RBIs. He is committed to Xavier University in Ohio.
This is the second time Rock Canyon has had a player selected, and marks the first time the Jaguars have ever had someone taken straight out of high school.
Two rounds after Givin, in the 22nd, Niwot’s Messinger was selected by the Chicago Cubs with the 675th overall pick.
Messinger, who is committed to Kansas, hit .484 with four home runs and 21 RBIs for the Cougars this spring. He was drafted as a shortstop.
His selection was the first for Niwot since Sean Ratliff was taken in 2008.
Heritage’s Opitz went in the 27th round to the Cleveland Indians at No. 822 overall. He is the third Opitz brother to be taken, following Shane (2010) and Jake (2008).
Opitz, who is committed to the University of Arkansas, also played basketball and football for the Eagles at times during his high school career.
A catcher, he hit .410 with a home run and 17 RBIs this spring. Behind the plate, Opitz threw out 11 of 13 would-be base-stealers.
In the 28th round, Opitz’s teammate, Hilton, was drafted by the Rangers with the No. 854 overall pick. A right-handed pitcher, he is committed to New Mexico.
Hilton went 4-5 this season with a 2.67 ERA, and he struck out 80 batters in 55 innings.
This is the third time Heritage has had multiple players drafted in the same season. It previously happened in 2004 and 1994. The Eagles have now produced 16 draft picks.
Biechler, the 2013 Pine Creek alum, was taken by the Colorado Rockies in the 31st round at No. 926 overall. He completed his career at Wichita State this spring, where he was 1-2 with a 2.84 ERA in 35 appearances.
Biechler help opponents to a .180 batting average in 31.2 innings, and struck out 40.
Notary, the Broomfield senior, was drafted at No. 1046 overall by the Rockies in the 35th round.
He helped the Eagles reach the 5A title game, going 7-0 with a 1.33 ERA in eight starts and 11 appearances. Notary, a TCU commit, tossed three complete-game shutouts, and had 107 strikeouts. After the season, he was named first-team all-state.
Notary’s selection gives Broomfield 11 draftees in program history.
Davis was the final local selection, and was also taken by the Rockies. He was drafted in the 38th round, No. 1136 overall.
A two-way player who was a second-team all-state pick, Davis had a 4-3 record to go with 68 strikeouts. Davis also hit .349 with two home runs.
The Rockies drafted the Arizona State commit as a right-handed pitcher. He is Ralston Valley’s sixth draft pick.
That brought the three-day total of selections to 14 players selected. Last season, 22 players were drafted.
