18 of 42 picks have signed including three more from the Top 10 rounds, bringing the total to five Top 10 picks
ST. LOUIS, MO (June 11, 2014) – The St. Louis Cardinals signed 10 more members of their 2014 MLB Draft Class, including second round selection Ronnie Williams, a right-handed pitcher out of American Senior High School in Miami, Fla., bringing their total signees to 18 of 42 total draft picks.
Williams, 18, is one of seven draft picks in 2014 who were alumni from Major League Baseball’s RBI Program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), and will report to the Cardinals Gulf Coast League affiliate in Jupiter, Fla.
“Ronnie is an elite athlete who already has a repeatable delivery, feel for both a changeup and breaking ball, and a fastball that we have clocked in the mid 90’s,” said Dan Kantrovitz, Cardinals Director of Scouting. “Ronnie is a great kid who will work as hard as anybody to find success in our system. From my standpoint, this signing is a result of the excellent work of our scouts in South Florida, Fernando Arango (Southeast Cross-checker) and Charlie Gonzalez (South Florida Area Scout).”
Andrew Sohn (rhymes with “own”), 21, a sixth-round selection shortstop from Western Michigan University will report to the Cardinals short season New York-Penn League affiliate in State College.
Daniel Poncedeleon, 22, a ninth-round right-handed pitcher out of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus, signed and will also report to State College. Poncedeleon was drafted four times in his career and played college baseball at four different universities including the University of Arizona and University of Houston. The ninth round was the highest he was drafted after being selected by the Rays (2010, 24th round), Reds (2012, 38th round) and Cubs (2013, 14th round) in previous drafts.
Cody Schumacher (SHOE-mahk-er) (36th round), a right-handed pitcher out of Missouri State University will report to State College, the third signee who will report to the New York-Penn League affiliate of today’s group. Blake Drake (18th round), Casey Grayson (21st round), Cole Lankford (27th round) and Josh Wirsu (WEHR-soo) (30th round) will all report to the Cardinals short season rookie affiliate in Johnson City of the Appalachian League. Julian Barzilli (31st round) and Davis Ward (40th) will report to the Gulf Coast League affiliate in Jupiter, Fla.
A full list of Cardinals draft picks with signees in bold and report location follows:
2014 FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT – RECAP
Rd., Player (overall pick) Pos. B-T Ht. Wt. School Hometown TEAM
1. Luke Weaver (27) RHP R-R 6-2 170 Florida State University DeLand, Fla.
1. Jack Flaherty (34) RHP R-R 6-4 205 Harvard-Westlake HS Burbank, Calif.
2. Ronnie Williams (68) RHP R-R 6-0 170 American Senior HS Miami, Fla. GCL
2. Andrew Morales (71) RHP R-R 6-0 185 University of California-Irvine Covina, Calif.
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3. Trevor Megill (104) RHP L-R 6-8 235 Loyola Marymount University Huntington Beach, Calif.
4. Austin Gomber (135) LHP L-L 6-5 215 Florida Atlantic University Winter Garden, Fla.
5. Darren Seferina (165) 2B L-R 5-10 175 Miami-Dade CC South Lake Worth, Fla. SC
6. Andrew Sohn (195) SS R-R 6-0 185 Western Michigan University Bloomfield Hills, Mich. SC
7. Brian O’Keefe (225) C R-R 6-1 205 St. Joseph’s University (Pa.) Albany, N.Y.
8. Nick Thompson (255) RF R-R 6-1 210 College of William & Mary Chesapeake, Va. SC
9. Daniel Poncedeleon (285) RHP R-R 6-4 200 Embry-Riddle Aero. Univ. La Mirada, Calif. SC
10. Danny Diekroeger (315) 3B L-R 6-2 205 Stanford University Woodside, Calif.
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11. Justin Bellinger (345) 1B L-L 6-6 236 St. Sebastian’s School Weston, Mass.
12. Jordan DeLorenzo (375) LHP L-L 6-1 205 University of West Florida Winter Park, Fla. JC
13. Matt Pearce (405) RHP R-R 6-3 205 Polk State College (Fla.) Bonita Springs, Fla. JC
14. Chris Shaw (435) C R-R 6-1 185 Midland College (Texas) Winnipeg, Manitoba (CAN)
15. Matt Ditman (465) RHP R-R 6-1 205 Rice University Richmond, Texas
16. Tristan Hildebrandt (495) SS R-R 5-9 170 Esperanza HS Yorba Linda, Calif.
17. Dustin Beggs (525) RHP R-R 6-3 180 Georgia Perimeter College Roswell, Ga.
18. Blake Drake (555) CF R-R 6-1 175 Concordia University (Ore.) Ramona, Calif. JC
19. Dom Thompson-Williams (585) CF L-L 6-0 180 Iowa Western College Sioux City, Iowa
20. Collin Radack (615) OF R-R 6-3 205 Hendrix College (Ark.) Austin, Texas
21. Casey Grayson (645) 1B L-L 6-1 215 University of Houston Cypress, Texas JC
22. Derek Casey (675) RHP R-R 6-2 190 Hanover HS Mechanicsville, Va.
23. Joe Gillette (705) 3B R-R 6-1 190 Scotts Valley HS Scotts Valley, Calif.
24. Casey Turgeon (735) 2B L-R 5-10 160 University of Florida Palm Harbor, Fla. JC
25. Landon Beck (765) RHP R-R 6-3 215 Anderson University (S.C.) Hartwell, Ga. JC
26. Tyler Bray (795) RHP R-R 6-5 200 University of Louisiana-Monroe Vancleave, Miss.
27. Cole Lankford (825) C L-R 6-0 185 Texas A&M University Houston, Texas JC
28. Tyler Dunnington (855) RHP R-R 6-2 195 Colorado Mesa University Shelton, Wash. GCL
29. Bryan Dobzanski (885) RHP R-R 6-4 220 Delsea Regional HS Franklinville, N.J.
30. Josh Wirsu (915) RHP R-R 6-0 190 Georgia Southern University Harlem, Ga. JC
31. Julian Barzilli (945) 3B R-R 6-0 185 Whittier College Los Angeles, Calif. GCL
32. Anthony Herron, Jr. (975) RHP R-R 6-2 195 Affton HS St. Louis, Mo.
33. Dominic Moreno (1,005) RHP R-R 5-11 190 Texas Tech University Farmington, N.M.
34. George Iskenderian (1,035) SS R-R 6-1 190 Indian River State College Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
35. Michael Bono (1,065) RHP R-R 6-1 177 Buchanan HS Clovis, Calif.
36. Cody Schumaker (1,095) RHP R-R 6-0 195 Missouri State University Hayden, Kan. SC
37. Chase Raffield (1,125) LF L-R 5-11 180 Georgia State University Cochran, Ga.
38. Sasha Kuebel (1,155) LHP R-L 6-1 196 University of Iowa St. Louis, Mo. GCL
39. Kyle Ruchim (1,185) 2B R-R 5-10 185 Northwestern University Buffalo Grove, Ill.
40. Davis Ward (1,215) RHP R-R 6-0 196 Ouachita Baptist University Little Rock, Ark. GCL
