MOBILE, Ala. - All six South Alabama Jaguar baseball players drafted in last weeks Major League Baseball first year player draft, have signed professional contracts with their respective teams.
Five of the six players are juniors and will forego their final year of NCAA eligibility. David Freese, who went to the San Diego Padres, is the lone senior. Chase Christianson, Zach Piccola, P.J. Walters, Guillermo Martinez and Tyler Jones are all headed to the professional ranks.
“We are all proud of these guys and we are excited for them,” said Jaguar head coach Steve Kittrell. “They all have a great chance to move up quickly in their organizations. We hate to lose those guys as juniors with one year remaining, but that’s the nature of college baseball. All of our coaches have done a great job recruiting and we are looking forward to next season.”
Christianson, a St. Paul’s alum was an eighth round selection, while New Hampshire native Piccola and Freese from St. Louis went in the ninth round. Walters out of Daphne was taken in the 11th round and Martinez was a 15th rounder. Tyler Jones, another Mobile native went in the 19th round to Arizona.
Freese was the first Jag since Mike Maksudian to bat over .400. Maksudian pulled it off in 1987. Freese also knocked in 73 runs. Only Luis Gonzalez in 1988 has more. Gonzalez knocked in 80 during that season. Walters and Freese were both named to Collegiate Baseball’s All-American Second Team.
Jones put up some great numbers in 2006 as well setting a pair of school records. He is now the single season triples leader with 11 and the single season at-bat leader with 268. Jones passed Jay Simpson’s triple record of 10 and Mike Mordecai’s at bat record of 262.
Walters and Christianson combined for 18 wins during the 2006 season. Walters finished 11-3 and Christianson finished 7-5.
The six players signing pro contracts are the most for a South Alabama squad since the 2001 season when nine players were inked to pro deals. The nine were, Casey Almond, Scott Calahan, Tim Davis, Nick Gretz, Warren Hanna, Eric Janecek, Cameron Likely, Lane Meyer and Tim Merritt. In that group only two were not seniors compared to this seasons’ five.
