The Florida State baseball team had seven players and two recruits selected this past week in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
Mike Martin Jr. confirmed on Thursday that he expects all nine to pursue professional careers, including sluggers Mat Nelson (35th pick overall by the Reds), Robby Martin (8th round by the Rockies) and Elijah Cabell (17th round to the Cardinals).
"They're all gone," Martin Jr. said. "Basically, in a draft like this, they're not going to take them unless they're signing them."
Because of COVID-19, the MLB Draft has been altered drastically the last two years. In 2020, it consisted of just five rounds. This year it went to 20 rounds, but that's still half of what it used to be before the pandemic.
Which means teams are much more likely to select a player they know is going to sign as opposed to return to college. With only 20 selections for most teams, they don't want to even waste one draft pick on someone who won't be in their farm system.
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So Martin Jr. understands that pitchers Hunter Perdue (10th round to the Marlins), Jack Anderson (16th round to the Tigers), Conor Grady (18th round to the Orioles) and Tyler Ahearn (20th round to the Rockies) almost certainly won't be on campus again next year. And neither will signees Edwin Arroyo (No. 48 pick overall) and Mitch Bratt (fifth round to the Rangers).
But even with the losses, the Florida State head coach believes the draft overall went well for the Seminoles.
"It was better than I expected," he said. "Davis Hare not getting drafted was a shock. He'll come back and do a lot of heavy lifting."
And the recruiting class, other than Arroyo and Bratt, was able to stay essentially intact. Which was a very nice surprise for the Seminoles' coaching staff.
"(Pitcher) Jackson Baumeister, I thought, was a slam dunk to get drafted," Martin Jr. said of MLB.com's 53rd-ranked prospect in the country. "He turned down a lot of money."
Baumeister, who was the third highest-ranked prospect to not get drafted, wasn't the only one, according to Martin Jr.
"Guys like (outfielder) James Tibbs turned down a lot of money," Martin Jr. said. "(Catcher) Jaime Ferrer turned down good money. So, we did pretty dang good."
Now that Martin knows which recruits and which current players are returning, he still has to finalize his roster for the 2022 season. And that means taking a serious spin in the transfer portal.
Florida shortstop Jordan Carrion announced on social media this week that he would be transferring to FSU. Carrion, who started 24 games as a true freshman in 2020 for the Gators, hit .244 with a homer and eight RBIs. He also pitched 6 2/3 innings out of the bullpen and had a 0.00 ERA with eight strikeouts. He made just four errors in 37 total games.
The Seminoles earlier got commitments from transfers Joseph Charles (North Carolina) and Brett Roberts (Tennessee Tech).
Charles is a hard-throwing right-hander from Celebration, Fla., who was one of the top pitchers in the country coming out of high school but saw limited action with the Tar Heels. Roberts, a middle infielder from Atlanta, hit a team-best .343 this past season with five home runs and 39 RBIs; he stole 17 bases in 26 attempts.
Martin Jr. cannot comment publicly on who he has gotten commitments from until they actually sign, but he did say on Thursday that the Seminoles could be in the mix for another transfer from an in-state power in the coming days.
"This thing is the wild west," Martin Jr. said. "I've got six different calls today of guys going into the portal or about to go in or have just gone in. I'm getting a heads-up from a lot of different people.
"It's crazy."
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