From the HartfordCourant:

"George Springer, UConn's five-tool center fielder, was taken by the Houston Astros with the 11th pick in the Major League Baseball amateur draft on Monday night.

Matt Barnes, UConn's ace pitcher, was selected by the Red Sox with the 19th pick.

Springer, 21, from New Britain and Avon Old Farms, is UConn's all-time home run leader with 45. He is also a base-stealing artist and a rangy center fielder with an above average arm.


Expected to be picked high, Springer, 6 feet 3, 200 pounds, was invited to MLB Network headquarters for their coverage of the first round, but UConn had other plans, advancing to the NCAA Regional. Springer and UConn were playing Clemson in the regional final Monday night as the draft was going on.

Springer took a .350 average with 12 homers and 76 RBI into the game, with an on-base-plus-slugging mark of 1.086. He was drafted in the 48th round by the Twins three years ago, but chose to attend UConn.

Barnes, who turns 21 on June 17, was 11-3 with a 1.12 ERA for UConn going into the NCAA tournament, but his last start was not a good one, allowing seven earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in a loss to Coastal Carolina to raise his ERA to 1.62 with 111 strikeouts in 116 innings. However, scouts had been flocking to his starts all year and consistently listed him among the top pitchers in a draft pool considered unusually deep in college pitching talent.

Barnes, 6-4 and 215, reached 97 mph with his fastball, even after passing the 100-pitch mark in games. UConn coaches did not allow him to throw more than 113 pitches in a game this season, so he came through his junior year with apparently good arm health.

Barnes, who was not drafted out of Bethel High, is the third UConn pitcher to be drafted in the first round, following Colin McLaughlin (Blue Jays , 1980) and Charles Nagy (Indians, 1988). Scott Burrell, a basketball player at UConn, was drafted as a pitcher by the Jays in 1989."

UCONN advances and two of it's players are taken in the first round...nice day!!


.