Gov. Mifflin’s state title bid ends
Twin Valley ace goes in 11th round to Dodgers; Kutztown RHP from Mohnton chosen by Cubs in 19th round
Four Berks County graduates, including recent Twin Valley graduate A.J. Alexy and Kutztown University right-handed pitcher Matt Swarmer, were selected in the 2016 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on June 11.
Kent State pitcher Andy Ravel ( Wilson) was taken in the 7th round by the Toronto Blue Jays with the 222nd overall pick. Boyertown graduate and University of North Carolina right-handed pitcher A. J. Bogucki was taken in the 8th round (244th overall) by the Washington Nationals.
Alexy, the hard-throwing righthander for the Raiders, was taken by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 11th round. He will reportedly pass on his commitment to Radford University to turn professional.
Alexy guided Twin Valley to a 19-4 record, the Berks semifinals and a berth in the District 3-AAA playoffs.
“We think he has a ton of talent,” Dodgers scouting director Billy Gasparino told MLB.com. “This is similar to our 11th-round pick last year, high school pitcher Imani Abdullah (who signed for $647,500). A.J. is 6-3, a lean righthander who spins the ball and has a lot of projection.”
Swarmer, a Gov. Mifflin graduate, was selected in the 19th round (584th overall) by the Chicago Cubs on the third day of the draft. He is the 14th Golden Bear to be selected in the MLB firstyear player draft since 1997. He is the first Golden Bear selected in the MLB Draft since Boyertown graduate Shayne Houck in 2012 (29th round, San Francisco) and the highest since Darin Gorski in
2009 (seventh round, New York Mets).
The Mohnton native was Kutztown’s ace this season and earned his first career All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) First Team honor. He went 3-5 with a 3.70 ERA over 10 starts for the Golden Bears (20-31). He led KU in strikeouts, fanning 85 batters over 58.1 innings (sixthmost in PSAC).
His strikeout-per-nine rate of 13.1 in the highest season total in KU history.
Swarmer finished his career with a 12-11 record and 3.11 ERA. The four-year pitcher struck out 224 bat- ters over 171 innings, sixth in KU history for career strikeouts. His 63 appearances are tied for fourth at KU while his 14 career saves are third in program history.
Ravel was 8-4 this season with a 3.36 ERA. In 91.0 innings, Ravel struck out 77 batters while walking just 20. He was also drafted out of high school in 2013, taken in the 21st round by the Diamondbacks. He was slated as one of the top prospects in the Flashes’ recruiting classes that season and he lived up to the billing in his three-year career.
Ravel is the first Kent State player drafted since 1990 when the Blue Jays took Patrick Valero in the 43rd round.
Bogucki was also drafted for the second time after being taken in the 21st round by the Minnesota Twins in the 2013 Draft. After opting to head to Chapel Hill then, Bogucki will now forgo his senior season at UNC to join the Nationals organization.
“It’s not every day you get drafted into the major leagues. I’m ready to start my career,” he said.
During his collegiate career at UNC, the 21-year-old Bogucki racked up a 3.10 earned-run average and a 113-49 strikeout-walk ratio across 90-1/3 innings and a 7-7 career record. His best statistical season came this past year, where he boasted a 2.86 ERA and held hitters to just a .212 batting average across 50-1/3 innings before finishing the season 5-5.