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Five ACC Players Taken In Opening Round of MLB Draft
June 5, 2008 GREENSBORO, N.C. - Three Atlantic Coast Conference baseball players were among the first 12 chosen in Thursday's 2008 Major League Baseball Draft, and the conference saw a total of five players taken in the opening round. Florida State junior catcher Buster Posey went to the San Francisco Giants as the No. 5 overall pick, and the Cincinnati Reds made Miami junior first baseman Yonder Alonso the seventh selection. Alonso's teammate, junior second baseman Jemile Weeks, went 12th overall to the Oakland Athletics. The ACC continued be represented in the latter stages of the first round, when Wake Forest junior first baseman Allan Dykstra went to the San Diego Padres as the 23rd overall pick. Miami boasted its third opening-round selection when right-handed pitcher Carlos Gutierrez went 27th to the Minnesota Twins. Posey, who ranks at or near the top of the nation in multiple offensive categories, became the 17th Florida State player to be taken in the opening round and the first since shortstop Stephen Drew in 2004. The 2008 ACC Player of the Year enters this weekend's NCAA Super Regional play leading all conference players in batting (.468), home runs (24) and RBI (86). Defensively, he's thrown out nearly 42 percent of would-be base stealers while registering six pickoffs. Alonso, Weeks and Gutierrez became Miami's seventh, eighth and ninth first-round picks. Alonso, a left-handed power hitter who led the ACC in home runs during the regular season, is currently batting .370 with 21 home runs and 66 RBIs. He is the first Hurricane to hit at least 20 home runs in a single season since Danny Matienzo in 2002. Weeks, who recently joined Posey and Alonso as a first-team Louisville Slugger All-America selection, is batting .366 with 11 home runs and 57 RBI. He has stolen 20 bases in 21 attempts and is Miami's all-time leader in triples. Dykstra led Wake Forest by a batting team-leading .323 with 16 home runs and 50 RBI. He reached base safely in all but four games this season while walking 62 times - a figure that ranked second nationally and set a Wake school record. Dykstra became the fifth Demon Deacon to be selected in the opening round. Gutierrez, Miami's stopper, ranks second on the team with 34 appearances and second in the ACC with 12 saves. The junior sports a 5-2 record, a .270 ERA and has struck out 64 batters in 43 1/3 innings. The ACC has had at least one player selected in the opening round of each of the last 17 Major League Baseball Drafts. This marks the seventh time in the last eight years that the league has had multiple picks in the first round. First-Round Selections
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