Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – Two Virginia Tech Hokies were chosen on the second day of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Wednesday, with outfielder Steve Bumbry going to the Baltimore Orioles in the 12th round and pitcher Rhett Ballard going to the Colorado Rockies in the 26th round.
Bumbry, an outfielder from Cockeysville, Md., who just completed his junior season, holds a .275 career batting average over 141 games played. His best season was this past one, when he hit .283 with a team-high 10 home runs and 51 runs scored. The 10 homers was the most hit by a Hokie since 2003. The left-hander also added eight doubles, three triples, 40 runs batted in, nine stolen bases and 37 bases on balls.
The Orioles’ selection of Bumbry is an interesting one because his father, Al, was a star center fielder for Baltimore from 1972-84, winning the American League’s Rookie of the Year Award in 1973. He was an American League All-Star in 1980 and was a member of the Orioles’ 1983 World Series championship team. He retired as Baltimore’s all-time stolen base leader.
Ballard recently completed his senior season with Hokies and finished his career fourth on Virginia Tech’s all-time strikeout list with 263 Ks – eight strikeouts ahead of Angels pitcher Joe Saunders, who is the only former Hokie currently playing in the major leagues. The High Point, N.C., native finished the 2009 campaign with a 7-4 record and a 4.05 earned run average, which ranked 13th in the ACC at the end of the regular season. Also at the end of the regular season, the right-hander was tied for sixth in the ACC with 77 strikeouts, while he ranked seventh with 80 innings pitched and first with 15 starts.
Bumbry, the 356th overall pick, is the first Hokie to be drafted since Warren Schaeffer went in the 38th round to Colorado in 2007. He is Tech’s highest-drafted player since Jeff Landing went in the 12th round (344th overall) of 2004’s draft to the New York Mets. Ballard was the 781st overall pick and his selection marks the first time that the Hokies have had multiple draftees in the same year since 2004.
The draft will conclude on Thursday with rounds 31-50.
Virginia Tech's draft history can be viewed here.