The 2022 Major League Amateur Draft was held earlier this week, and in the 20 rounds, 17 former Valley Leaguers were selected, and a few players have signed as free agents already, too.

Drafted:

Round Overall Pick Name Position College ML Team VBL Team
4 121 Nate Furman 2B Charlotte Cleveland Winchester 21
5 137 Trace Bright RHP Auburn Baltimore Charlottesville 21
5 148 Sonny DiChiara 1B Auburn LA Angels Strasburg 19
6 189 Alex Hoppe RHP UNC Greensboro Boston Harrisonburg 19
9 259 Griffin Cheney SS Georgia State Texas Strasburg 18-19
10 310 Will Brian LHP Eastern Kentucky NY Yankees Harrisonburg 19
11 326 Carson Skipper LHP Auburn Colorado Charlottesville 19
14 418 Sabin Ceballos C San Jacinto LA Angels Winchester 21
14 420 Tyler Robertson OF Lousiana Lafayette San Diego New Market 21
14 425 Landon Harper RHP Southern Miss Atlanta Strasburg 21
15 462 Satchell Norman C Florida Southwestern Milwaukee Charlottesville 22
16 483 Trey Braithwaite RHP West Virginia Cincinnati Winchester 19
16 484 Blaze Pontes RHP Hawaii Oakland Purcellville 19
17 498 Logan Clayton RHP Houston Arizona Waynesboro 21
19 564 Garrett McMillan RHP Alabama Minnesota Strasburg 22
19 571 Geo Rivera RHP Walters State Cleveland Strasburg 21
20 606 Nick Zona SS JMU Seattle Harrisonburg 19

By Valley League team:

  1. Strasburg has five
  2. Winchester, Charlottesville, and Harrisonburg all have three
  3. New Market, Purcellville, and Waynesboro all have one
  4. Staunton, Covington, Front Royal, and Woodstock all were shut out

Three alumni have been signed as free agents so far:

Free Agents College ML Team VBL Team
1 Ryan McCarty SS Penn State Abington Toronto Staunton 19,21
2 Kelsey Ward LHP Embry-Riddle Toronto Waynesboro 22
3 Christian Ciuffetelli RHP Oregon Washington Harrisonburg 21

McCarty, of course, had an all-time great season at D-III Penn State Abington. Nice to see him get a shot.

Baseball America has released it’s top ten list for the 2023 draft, and two former VBLers are listed as possible first rounders next year:

#6- Rhett Lowder, Wake Forest (Strasburg 2021)
#8- Wyatt Langford, Florida  (Charlottesville 2021)

To put this in context, the last time the VBL had a first rounder at all was 2017 (Nate Pearson, Staunton, taken 28th overall). The last time the league had a top ten pick was 2010 (Cory Spangenberg, Winchester, taken 10th overall). The last time two players were picked in the first round was 2008 (Yonder Alonso, 7th overall, and Carlos Gutierrez, 27th overall, both from Luray). The last time two players were taken in the top ten? My stats go back through 1996, and it didn’t happen in that time frame.