PHOENIX – Less than three weeks away from hearing their names called off the big board, Virginia Tech baseball sophomore Drue Hackenberg, junior Jack Hurley and junior Christian Worley are honoring their select invitations to the 2023 MLB Draft Combine, taking place from June 19 to June 24 at Chase Field in Phoenix (home of the Arizona Diamondbacks).
Hackenberg, Hurley and Worley are among 323 players who are competing in this week's showcase, featuring a pair of pro-style workouts that will air live on MLB Network on Tuesday (1-4 p.m.) and Wednesday (3:30-6:30 p.m.). The Tech trio will offer general managers, scouts and team executives their final looks before the clubs make their selections when the 2023 MLB Draft opens on Sunday, July 9, in Seattle.
This week's MLB Draft Combine will feature more than 160 of MLB Pipeline's top 200 draft prospects, among which both Hurley (No. 33) and Hackenberg (No. 187) currently rank. Should the pair of Hokies both earn selection at or around their prospect rankings, it would mark the third time within the last four draft years during which Tech will have produced multiple top-200 picks.
Hurley – a 2022 All-American, two-time All-ACC First Team (2022, 2023) and two-time ABCA/Rawlings Atlantic All-Region (2022, 2023) outfielder – batted .321, slugged .603 and boasted a 1.014 OPS during his 154 career collegiate appearances. Swinging 188 career hits during his three seasons with the Hokies, the six-foot native of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, hammered 48 doubles, three triples and 37 home runs, accounting for 129 RBIs and 145 runs scored.
Hackenberg earned 2022 All-American status on top of receiving consensus Freshman All-American honors last season after leading Tech on the mound with his 10-2 record and 3.30 ERA during its run to the NCAA Blacksburg Super Regional. Through his two campaigns in Blacksburg, the six-foot-two right-hander carved 186 career strikeouts out of his 178 innings pitched, accounting for 15 victories, 14 quality starts and one complete game.
Together, Hackenberg and Hurley competed last June at the 2022 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp during its Stars vs. Stripes series in North Carolina. Hurley progressed onto the 26-man Collegiate National Team roster that won bronze at 2022 Honkbalweek Haarlem (Haarlem Baseball Week) – an international tournament hosted by the Netherlands.
Worley had been commanding a 2.70 ERA through five appearances this spring prior to being dealt a season-ending injury that kept him off the mound after March 17. As a sophomore in 2022, the right-hander bloomed during the Hokies' late-season push towards the postseason, where he made four relief appearances, registering 12 strikeouts.
Virginia Tech's tradition of yielding multiple MLB Draft selections within a single draft year dates back 15 consecutive seasons to 2008. Under head coach John Szefc, the Hokies have produced 16 draft picks, including eight players who have been taken during the opening 10 rounds.
Tech's 2022 MLB Draft class set program records with four (of five) players selected during the opening five rounds, highlighted by Gavin Cross becoming the school's highest all-time MLB Draft selection at No. 9 overall (Kansas City Royals).