Baseball: Beddes goes in 15th round to Pirates
Photo by Darryl Webb
OREM, Utah—Utah Valley University starting pitcher Danny Beddes was drafted by the Pittsburg Pirates in the 15th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft Saturday.
“It’s a great feeling,” Beddes said. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to be drafted and be able to continue my career at the next level. The pirates are a great organization and I couldn’t be happier to have an opportunity like this. They took a chance by taking me, so hopefully I can do my job and make them look good.”
The 6-foot-6 right-hander threw 102.2 innings in the 2016 season for UVU, including 3.0 innings of work against the LSU Tigers in the Wolverines’ first-ever trip to the NCAA Regional. Beddes finished the season with a record of 9-4 and a 4.56 ERA while earning First-Team All-WAC honors.
“I’m really happy for Danny. He’s worked very hard to get to this point and was instrumental in helping us achieve our goal of getting to a Regional this year,” said UVU head coach Eric Madsen in a statement to WolverineGreen.com.
Beddes set school records in career wins (19), career strikeouts (227), and strikeouts in a single season (99) for the Wolverines. In a start against the Sacramento State Hornets on May 7, Beddes put together perhaps his best performance of the season with four stirkeouts, one walk and just two hits allowed over 8.0 innings of work in a 5-0 UVU win.
Taken as the 465th selection in the draft, Beddes is the highest draft choice to come out of UVU since the school made the transition to NCAA Division I in 2004. The last Wolverine taken in the MLB draft was First-Team All-American Goose Kallunki, who was taken in the 27th round by the San Diego Padres.
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