Gordon Lee grad selected by Cleveland
2015 Gordon Lee High School graduate Conard Broom just completed his third season at Mercer University in Macon by being named a third team All-American by Baseball America.
Last Tuesday, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound, right-handed, junior pitcher was taken in the 10th round (No. 313 overall) by the Cleveland Indians in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
He said that getting the call was “surreal”.
“I was expecting to go somewhere from the fifth to the 10th round, so from 1 p.m. on (Tuesday) I was just sitting back and trying to be patient. But I couldn’t go to a better organization in terms of a team that knows how to develop good pitching more than Cleveland.”
Broom said he expects to either be assigned to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Niles, Ohio) of the New YorkPenn League or the Lake County Captains (Eastlake, Ohio) of the Midwest League. Mahoning Valley is a short-season Class A level club, while Lake County is the Class A affiliate of the Indians.
“I’ve always dreamed about getting drafted and playing professional baseball,” he explained. “I think I started to realize I had a shot at it last summer when I did really well in the Cape Cod League
(a summer league for college players) against the best of the best up there. Then I had a very good junior season (at Mercer). I think growing up and playing all that select ball really prepared me.”
A middle reliever, Broom was 10-4 for the Bears this past season with two saves and a 1.70 ERA. He allowed just 14 earned runs in 74 innings of work and finished with 111 strikeouts against just 24 walks.
For his career, Broom has a 22-9 overall record with seven saves and a 2.40 ERA in 198.2
innings on the mound. He has struck out 268 batters and walked just 72.
Now he says his next goal to make his hometown area proud.
“Everyone I’ve come in contact with has sent me words of encouragement and prayers and those get me motivated to go out there and do my best.”