By Marissa Scott— Co-Assistant Executive Editor
Draft Day for Major League Baseball rolls around every summer and it changes the lives of hundreds of high school and college ball players around the country.
With years and years of hard work and dedication to a single sport that you hope one day becomes your job, players across the country glue their eyes to the television for three days straight, longing for their name to pop up on the screen.
“Getting that phone call… I can’t even describe it. I didn’t cry, but I kinda broke down.”
Kellen Strahm heard his name called by the Texas Rangers in the fifth round of the draft as the 145th-overall pick.
“I have been through a lot in my life,” Strahm said. “I’ve been doubted and I used that as motivation, I finally feel like all the hard work has paid off. It was a pretty cool feeling.”
The center fielder is the first Spartan to be drafted earlier than the 18th round since Zack Jones was taken in the fourth round by the Minnesota Twins in 2012. He is also one of only nine Spartans to be drafted in at least the fifth round or earlier in MLB Draft history.
The junior finished the 2019 season with a conference-leading .382 batting average, six home runs and 38 runs scored. Strahm’s average is the highest with at least 170 plate appearances on any San Jose State team since Jacob Bruns finished at .399 in 2009.
“You see the athleticism, you see the strength, you see the bat speed and you see all the tools that it takes to get drafted as high as he did,” said assistant coach Tyler LaTorre. “It was all about getting those tools to work together and that’s what he did this year.”
The senior was selected First-Team All Mountain West despite a mid-season injury that forced the team to fill the sluggers’ spot.
“It was hard seeing the team struggle and not being able to do anything about it,” the Oregon-native said. “I traveled with the team because they needed me to be there and cheer them on. But it was hard to lose all those games in a row.”
About three rounds later, another Spartans’ name was displayed on the television screen, one whose collegiate career at SJSU put him on the scouts’ maps.
Andrew Mitchel heard his name called by the San Diego Padres in the eighth round of the draft as the 233rd-pick overall.
“It was an unreal moment and a crazy day,” the left hander said. “I can’t really describe how it felt because I don’t know how to describe 17 years of hard work into one moment, but it was pretty surreal — it was probably the best day of my life.”
The senior led the conference with 112 strikeouts and finished second with a .208 batting average against. He won the 2018 Co-Mountain West Pitcher of the Year and was the first Spartan since Matt Durkin to eclipse 100 strikeouts in back-to-back seasons.
Because southpaws who are able to strike batters out are hard to find, Mitchel will most likely move through the farm system quickly if he finds success in the minors.
“You can’t teach strikeouts,” LaTorre said. “You can teach control, you can teach command and maybe a different pitch, but he has the ability to strike people out and that’s what organizations are looking for.”
Mitchel and Strahm are the first two Spartans to be drafted before the 10th round in the same year since 1984 when Ken Caminiti and Huck Hibberd were drafted in the third and eighth rounds, respectively.
The major league teams weren’t done looking at SJSU’s roster.
In the 22nd round, Fineas Del Bonta-Smith’s life changed when he heard his mom screaming of excitement after he was chosen by the Colorado Rockies as the 669th-overall pick.
“It is unbelievable,” the closer said. “It’s the beginning of a dream come true.”
Del Bonta-Smith’s nine saves on the season were fourth in the Mountain West and the highest for any Spartan pitcher since Zack Jones finished with 10 in 2011.
The rightie began his career as a starting pitcher when he came to SJSU as a transfer student in the fall of 2017. He made the transition to the bullpen when the coaching staff figured out his pitching style was more effective when he could throw harder for a shorter amount of time.
“When you have someone that has the ability, pitches and mentality to close, that’s when you really have something special,” LaTorre said. “We found that pretty early last year and he had a great season.”
In a program that has faced a bit of adversity over the last couple of years, the three chosen ones were the light at the end of the tunnel.
The Spartans’ three draftees were the first since 2017 and the first time the school has had more than two since 2011.
Although the SJSU baseball program isn’t in the elite teams in Division I baseball, the drafting of its elite players puts the program on the map which helps with future recruiting.
“If you’re a high school junior or senior and you see players were drafted from San Jose State, you’re going to want to go there because they gave their players the opportunity to play in the big leagues,” LaTorre said.
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