Seven more Colorado products selected on the final day of the 2019 MLB Draft
On the final day of the 2019 MLB Draft, former Colorado high school baseball players continued to hear their names called.
On Wednesday, seven alumni were drafted out of college: Chris Givin (Rock Canyon), Chad Bell (Rocky Mountain), Jack Strunc (Mountain Vista), Alex Achtermann (Cherokee Trail), Bryan King (Ponderosa), Trevor Kehe (Lakewood), and Jake Eissler (ThunderRidge).
That brings the total of Colorado high school products drafted this season to nine. No high school seniors were selected for the first time since 1984 — it is only the second time since 1965 that has happened.
Givin, a 2015 graduate of Rock Canyon, was selected in the 19th round at No. 563 overall by the San Diego Padres. He recently finished his senior season at Xavier. The shortstop hit .306 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs this season. He led the team with four triples.
Givin was a first-team all-Big East selection this season.
At Xavier, he finished with 249 career hits, which are the third-most in school history.
As a senior at Rock Canyon, he helped lead the Jaguars to the Class 5A championship, and he was named first-team all-state.
This marks the fourth time a former Rock Canyon player has been selected in the MLB Draft, and it is the third consecutive season they’ve had someone drafted.
Bell graduated from Rocky Mountain in 2015. He was also selected in the 19th round, at No. 585 overall, by the New York Yankees.
He just finished his senior season at Louisiana-Monroe, where he hit .333 with 21 home runs and 61 RBIs this season.
His 21 home runs set a single-season school record, and rank in the top ten nationally.
A third baseman, Bell was named first-team all-conference in the Sun Belt, and also made the league’s all-tournament team.
At Rocky Mountain, Bell was part of Rocky Mountain’s 2014 5A championship team, and was part of the all-state teams as a senior.
This is the 16th time Rocky Mountain has had a former player selected in the MLB Draft.
Strunc went in the 25th round to the Miami Marlins, at No. 741 overall.
A 2014 graduate of Mountain Vista, he helped Creighton reach the NCAA regional final this season, which was his redshirt senior year.
Strunc hit .294 with four home runs and 34 RBIs this season as Creighton won the Big East Tournament. Strunc hit a grand slam in that game to help the Blue Jays clinch the title. He was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.
At Mountain Vista, he helped the Golden Eagles reach the Final 4 in 2014.
He is the sixth former Mountain Vista player to be drafted, and the first since 2015.
Achtermann graduated from Cherokee Trail in 2014. He’s an infielder and right-handed pitcher at Pittsburg State, having just completed his senior season.
He threw 89 2/3 innings this season, and went 7-5 with a 3.51 ERA and 99 strikeouts. He hit .286 with four home runs and 26 RBIs.
Achtermann is the third draft pick out of Cherokee Trail.
King, who graduated from Ponderosa in 2015, made 13 starts at McNeese State this season, going 3-5 with a 6.94 ERA.
He just completed his senior season there, helping them reach the regionals this season.
King is Ponderosa’s sixth draft pick.
In the 36th round, at No. 1068 overall, Kehe, a 2015 Lakewood grad, was drafted by Baltimore out of Colorado School of Mines.
A redshirt junior, he hit .431 with 18 home runs and 58 RBI this season.
He is the ninth player to be drafted from Lakewood.
Two rounds later, in the 38th, 2016 ThunderRidge graduate Jake Eissler was selected by Cleveland with the 1150th overall pick.
Eissler, a junior, was 4-4 with a 6.33 ERA and 50 strikeouts against 12 walks in 48 1/3 innings as he helped TCU reach the regionals.
At ThunderRidge, Eissler was the 2016 5A player of the year as part of the all-state teams.
He is the seventh draft pick from ThunderRidge in school history.
We are tracking all the local selections in the 2019 MLB Draft on this page.
