AURORA -- The 2024 MLB Draft is now in the books and 10 of the players who were selected played for Colorado High School Activities Association member schools while in high school. Over the last six MLB Drafts, only last season's featured more former CHSAA players (12).
Mountain Vista's
Grant Shepardson (Round 5, Pick 155) and Coronado's
Trey Gregory-Alford (Round 11, Pick 322) were the only two former CHSAA athletes selected directly out of high school, with the other eight being selected out of college. Gregory-Alford is also only the second player in the database selected from Coronado High School, and the highest selection in the school's history.
Shepardson was joined by his older brother and fellow Mountain Vista grad,
Blake Shepardson (Round 11, Pick 319), who went off the boards just six rounds after his sibling.
Cherokee Trail was the only other school with multiple graduates selected in this year's MLB Draft, as pitchers
Ethan Sloan (Round 8, Pick 236) and
Nolan Sparks (Round 13, Pick 381) both had their names called.
Greysen Carter (Round 5, Pick 152) was the highest selection with a CHSAA background, as he became first Fairview Knight graduate to be drafted since 2015, and the highest Fairview draft selection since 2002.
Golden had a player selected for the second-straight season, thanks to the Arizona Diamondbacks selecting
Ben McLaughlin (Round 9, Pick 284) this year after the Texas Rangers took Laif Palmer off the board in the 20th round a year ago. It marks the first time since 2005-2007 that Golden has had MLB Draft selections in consecutive seasons.
Eaton also had players selected each of the least two seasons, with
Ryan Ure (Round 19, Pick 568) following in Walker Martin's footsteps. Though, unlike McLaughlin and Palmer, Ure and Martin were drafted by the same franchise -- the San Francisco Giants.
Blake Hammond (Round 15, Pick 436) became just the third Holy Family player in
CHSAA's MLB Draft database, and the first selection to come from the school since 2014.
Finally, Heritage's
Cameron Sisneros (Round 14, Pick 422) was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 14th round, which made him Heritage's second highest-drafted selection over the last 14 MLB drafts.