LOS ANGELES, Calif. --- The 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft finished after three days Anteaters Nathan Church and Troy Taylor selected along with incoming Anteater Riley Kelly.
 

Anteater	Position	MLB Club	Round	Overall Pick
Nathan Church	OF	St. Louis Cardinals	11th	337th
Troy Taylor	RHP	Seattle Mariners	12th	366th
Riley Kelly^	RHP	Arizona Diamondbacks	20th	588th

^ - Incoming recruit for 2022-23 school year

The Anteaters selected grow the program's totals to 140 players drafted or signed to pro clubs with 89 since 2002 and 16 under head coach Ben Orloff.

Church is the sixth Anteater to hear his name called by the St. Louis Cardinals joining the most recent pick, Andre Pallante, who was taken in 2019 and has since reached the Major Leagues. Church spent four seasons with the program, but was sidelined with injuries and the shortened COVID season his first two. He broke out in 2021 to lead the nation in triples, break an Anteater record with 100 hits, and dominate freshman All-American honors among other Big West awards. His career numbers put him at a .341 average, 11th-best in UCI history, playing in 120 games, and joined some exclusive clubs with career totals of at least 100 runs scored and RBIs along with 10 career triples and 12 home runs. The outfielder added six career outfield assists with his .989 fielding percentage and memorable games including a five-hit game, two-home run game, and belted a grand slam this season.



Taylor hears his name called for a second time after the Seattle Mariners took a flyer on him in 2021 in the 20th round. The Mariners were there to collect him once again, this time in the 12th round, 29 picks after Church. Taylor spent just one season as Anteater in 2022, but emerged as an elite arm out of the bullpen. He finished with a 3.82 ERA in 26 appearances striking out 42 batters in 33 innings. He claimed a 2-3 record while leading the 'Eaters with six saves to score All-Big West Honorable Mention on the season.



Kelly was selected in the 20th and final round, an impressive right-handed pitcher out of nearby Tustin High School. This marks the fifth straight season in which an incoming player to the program was drafted and seventh player in the last eight seasons to do so. Kelly was rated the No. 150 draft prospect entering the weekend as the 6-4 / 180-lb hurler was quickly rising up draft boards. Hitting 92-94 with a devastating curveball according to ProspectsLive.com, his game really jumped according to BaseballAmerica.com after focusing on baseball only having been his high school's starting quarterback previously. Now he ranks highly across the board according to Perfect Game USA as the No. 131 high school prospect in the nation, No. 39 among RHP, and in the state of California, he's rated the 14th-best high schooler and fifth-best RHP.