by Matt Plante
Vice President

Eight Top Tier Players taken in the 2016 MLB Draft with another picked up as a Free Agent

Jason Goldstein, Illinois
Drafted in the 9th Round by the Seattle Mariners. He led Illinois his senior year, hitting .312 with 29 RBI's. He earned Senior Class All-America First Team honors. He was second team All-Big Ten catcher as a sophomore, and was Freshman All-Big Ten. Out of High School he was ranked the #4 catcher in the country by Perfect Game. He is a 3 time All-Big Ten selection. For his career at Illinois he hit .289.

Charley Gould, William & Mary
Drafted in the 26th Round by the Oakland Athletics. He led the Tribe his senior season with a .329 average. For his college career, he hit .336 with 54 doubles, 25 home runs, 150 RBI's and a .542 Slugging percentage. He was a 2nd team CAA selection for the 3rd straight year.

Cooper Johnson, Carmel Catholic High School
Drafted in the 28th Round by the Cincinnati Reds. He was the #1 ranked catcher out of High School in the country by Perfect Game and Prep Baseball Report. He won gold with the 18u USA team. He was Selected to play in the Under Armour All-American Game and was also selected to the Area Code Games. He is committed to playing collegiate ball at Mississippi.

Will Kincanon, Triton CC
Drafted in the 29th Round by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He went 5-2 on the year in 52 innings, with 2.77 ERA and 61 strikeouts.

Dan Hutcheon, Montavallo
Drafted in the 29th Round by the Minnesota Twins. This being his Junior season at college, he hit .365 with 3 home runs and 43 RBI's. He finished 8th in the Sun Belt Conference with 85 hits. He also stole 16 bases, and finished the season on a 24-game hitting streak. He was named to the Peach Belt All-Academic Team.

Brenden Heiss, Jacobs High School
Drafted in the 31st Round by the Chicago Cubs. He played in the Under Armour All-America Game and the Area Codes. He was ranked in the Top 100 in both Perfect Game and Prep Baseball Report in the country. He is committed to playing collegiate ball at Arkansas.

Welby Malczewski, Heatland CC
Drafted in the 37th Round by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He went 2-0 this year in 20 innings of work with 18 strikeouts.

Dan Mayer, Pacific
Drafted in the 37th Round by the Minnesota Twins. This year he led the West Coast Conference in home runs with 15, en route to an All-WCC First Team Selection. He also had 16 doubles and a triple along with 40 RBI's on the season, which ended with a 22-game hitting streak.

Adam Walton, Illinois
Got picked up as an undrafted Free Agent by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was a two-time All-Big Ten shortstop with a career average of .280. He was Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and 2nd Team All-Big Ten.