After 40 rounds of fun -- sounds like one Andre the Giant night in a bar -- here's where the Major League Draft tangibly touched FIU.
Four recruiting signees were taken:
Alexis Rivera, 6-2, 220, outfielder/first baseman out of Montverde Academy up in Central Florida, taken No. 313 by Kansas City
Phildrick Llewellyn, catcher out of Lake Worth Trinity Christian, went to Arizona at No. 423.
Righthanded pitcher Reid Scoggins, out of Howard College, got taken at No. 577 by Anaheim
And as everybody was packing up, Milwaukee took American High catcher Chucky Vazquez with pick No. 1235. The draft lasted only three more picks.
As tor the players with FIU in 2012...
If right fielder Jabari Henry has a cup of coffee in the majors, he's with the right organization to do so. Seattle took him in the 18th round, No. 551 overall, making Henry the first player off the 2012 FIU roster to be drafted this year.
In the 21st round, at No. 663, Arizona took first baseman Rudy Flores. Flores played three games this season, going five for 13, before a suspension for a series then an injury limited his season to those three games.
At No. 808, San Francisco drafted lefthander Mason McVay, who went 2-3 this season, but held opposing batters to a .242 average. He had some control issues, his 10 wild pitches leading the team by four and five hit batsmen tying for the team lead.
Mike Martinez had to wait until No. 1,089, but FIU's all-time hits leader got taken by Houston at the top of the 36th round Wednesday.
WOMEN'S TRACK
Overcoming FIU's lack of facilities to sprint to the NCAA Championships, the women's 4x100 relay team of junior Melissa McElveen, junior Lakeisha Kelley, senior Carla Mills and junior T'Keyah Demoy finished eighth in Heat 1 of Wednesday's prelims. Their 49.09 time was well off their seeding time of 45.05.
