IRVINE, Calif. --- On the first day of the Major League Baseball draft, two Anteaters were taken in the first 10 picks highlighted by Keston Hiura who was selected as the ninth overall pick by the Milwaukee Brewers, the highest-ever pick in UC Irvine program history.
The junior utility player led the nation with a .442 batting average, breaking a 46-year UCI record, and .567 on-base percentage earning a spot as a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist and honored as the Big West Field Player of the Year. Hiura is the first-ever first-rounder in program history, and eclipses the highest overall pick which was Jeff Malinoff at No. 22 overall in 1974. He's also the second Anteater to be drafted by the Brewers joining Wes Etheridge in 2009.
"There's a lot of emotions going on right now," noted the newly-drafted Hiura minutes after the selection. "It's been a long time coming, and to be able to experience this moment with my family, teammates, and friends is truly something special."
"The past three years at UC Irvien have been unreal for me. We have a great coaching staff, great teammates as well that really helped me mold into the type of player I am today, and I've taken a lot from this program and hope to continue it throughout my life, so I can't thank everyone you know in the UC IRvine baseball and UC Irvine Athletics program and the school as well for everything they've offered to me"
Joining Hiura in the first round was incoming freshman Royce Lewis taken No. 1 overall to the Minnesota Twins out of JSerra High School. Lewis is signed to join the program for the 2017-18 school year, and he was quoted in an interview with baseballfactory.com describing his decision to choose UC Irvine over the UCLA's and USC's of the world:
"It's the best school for me. I never looked at it as, 'oh, I'm a better athlete or a better baseball player than most kids, so I am going to go to UCLA.' I don't think of it that way, but feel like sometimes kids do that. I feel the best way to go about it is to pick a school as if I were going just as a student before an athlete. It's a smaller campus than the UCLA's and USC's… it's in Newport Beach… who doesn't want to live in Newport Beach? It's closer to home and if I had the option, I would not want to leave home."
Both Hiura and Lewis have until August 16 to officially sign with their clubs.
The draft continues with rounds 3-10 on Tuesday, and the final 30 rounds on Wednesday with potential for more Anteaters to join them as selections.
