Six Anteaters Drafted as Three Go on Day Three
June 14, 2017 | Baseball
Fifth-year Mikey Duarte, underclassman Cameron Bishop, and incoming freshman Trenton Denholm earn selections
IRVINE, Calif. --- The 2017 Major League Baseball draft completed with three Anteaters going on the final day for a total of six draft picks overall. The six picks are the most for the 'Eaters since 2010, and just the fourth time UCI has had as many as six players selected.
Senior SS Mikey Duarte led off the selections going in the 23rd round to the Chicago White Sox. Duarte returned to form in 2017 hitting over .300 standing second on the team in nearly every offensive category earning him a second All-Big West accolade. He was First Team All-Big West and a Brooks Wallace Award candidate in his junior year as the conference's leader in hits, but was sidelined in 2016 with an elbow injury. He is the fifth Anteater to join the White Sox following in the footsteps of Mike Nagle, Mike Bradish, Sean Tracey, and Justin Cassel. He's the third 'Eater to go in this round joining Matt Morris and Cory Hamilton.
Two Anteaters went almost consecutively in the 26th round starting with Cameron Bishop and his selection by the Baltimore Orioles. The junior left-hander was sidelined for the entire 2017 campaign with an oblique issue after leading the team in wins and strikeouts in his sophomore season. Bishop still has at least one year of eligibility with the program and could return to the Anteaters as the signing deadline comes up August 16.
The second Anteater in the 26th round was also its second incoming freshman signee and pitcher Trenton Denholm. The right-hander out of Oak Ridge High School and El Dorado Hills followed up a stellar 2016 campaign where he allowed one earned run over the entire season by working an 0.99 ERA in 2017 striking out 88 hitters in 56.1 innings.
Bishop and Denholm were three picks apart much like the two Anteater selections last season of Elliot Surrey and John Brontsema that went 16 picks apart also in the 26th round.
