MLB.com Draft Central
Twelve Ohio Valley Conference players were selected on day two of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. The draft concludes with rounds 31-50 on Wednesday (beginning at Noon ET). Round No. 1 of the draft was held on Monday.
Overall Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State each had four selections. The 12 selections eclipsed the nine total picks in all of last year's draft and are the most every in a single MLB draft for the OVC (and there are still 20 rounds remaining on Wednesday).
Jacksonville State's Todd Cunningham was the first Ohio Valley Conference Player selected, being picked by the Atlanta Braves in the second round (No. 53 overall) on Tuesday. He was followed by Tennessee Tech pitcher Stephen Pryor (5th round by Seattle), Tennessee Tech designated hitter A.J. Kirby-Jones (9th round by Oakland), Morehead State shortstop Drew Lee (12th round by White Sox), Eastern Illinois pitcher Josh Mueller (13th round by Colorado), Eastern Kentucky third baseman Jayson Langfels (16th round by Colorado), Murray State first baseman Wes Cunningham (17th round by San Diego), Tennessee Tech outfielder Chad Oberacker (19th round by St. Louis), Jacksonville State outfielder Daniel Adamson (20th round by Houston), Tennessee Tech pitcher Adam Liberatore (21st round by Tampa), Jacksonville State catcher Andrew Edge (24th round by Dodgers) and Jacksonville State pitcher Alex Jones (27th round by Milwaukee).
Cunningham was the third pick of the second round and becomes Jacksonville State's highest drafted player since former Major League All-Star Todd Jones was selected by the Houston Astros as a compensation pick in 1989. The Jacksonville, Ala., native was a first-team All-OVC selection last month and finished the season batting .359 with 17 doubles, four triples, 11 home runs and 43 RBI after leading the Gamecocks to the 2010 OVC Tournament Championship and a berth in the NCAA Regionals. A preseason First Team All-America selection by Baseball America, Cunningham boasted a team-high .465 on-base percentage and scored 61 times for JSU in 2010, mostly from the leadoff spot. In the summer of 2009, Cunningham led the prestigious Cape Cod League with a .378 batting average for the Falmouth Commodores to win the Thumon Munson Batting Award. He also led the league in hits (59) and on-base percentage (.458) while winning the batting title by 36 points. The switch-hitting outfielder was second in the Cape in runs scored (31) and slugging percentage (.500), while posting 12 extra-base hits with 22 RBI. He also drew 19 walks to post a .458 on-base percentage.
The primary closer for Tech, Pryor led the Golden Eagle pitching staff in 2010 with 24 appearances and four saves, and maintained a 4-4 record with a 5.71 ERA throughout the course of the season. He struck out 75 batters in 41 total innings, ranking fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference in strikeouts, and held opponents to a .224 batting average. With the ability to pitch at a speeds lingering around 94mph and reaching velocities as high as 96mph, Pryor holds the single season record at Tech for strikeouts per nine innings with 16.46, while his four saves in a single season ranks third in the record books. Of the 35 hits allowed in 2010, only 13 of them were for extra bases.
Kirby-Jones started all 56 games for Tech this year, primarily as the team's designated hitter. He also occasionally started and filled in at first base for the Golden Eagles, and saw time on the mound as a right-handed reliever. As the three-slot batter, Kirby-Jones slugged a monumental .859 this season - a statistic that ranked second in the NCAA at the season's end, led the Ohio Valley Conference and shattered the single season record at Tech. His career slugging percentage of .686 ties for first place in the Tech record books. He finished second in the nation, first in the OVC crushing 26 home runs on the season. With 51 career home runs, he takes the number one spot in Tech history. Kirby-Jones has a career batting average of 347 through three years at Tech, earning 207 hits in 596 at bats, 100 of which were for extra bases. He ranks first at Tech in career total bases with 409, runs scored with 143, hits, doubles with 49, runs batted in with 190 and walks with 128. Starting the past 114 games consecutively, he batted in 70 runs this year, breaking his own school record for RBIs in the 2009 season to earn the two spot in the Tech single season record books. He is also amongst top OVC players in categories such as on-base percentage, RBIs, total plate appearances and total bases for the 2010 season.
Lee is the first player from Morehead State to be drafted since Henry Mabee was taken in the 19th round of the 2007 draft. Mabee, who is currently on the AA Birmingham Barons roster, was also drafted by the White Sox. Lee, who was a first-team All-OVC selection in 2010, hit .412 with 84 hits, 60 runs scored, 19 doubles, 17 home runs and 66 RBI in 50 total games. Lee is one of 25 quarterfinalists for the Brooks Wallace Award, given to the nation's top shortstop. He is also a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, given to the nation's top collegiate player.
Mueller is a three-year member of the Panthers' weekend rotation, compiling a 17-10 career record. He made the majority of his 40 collegiate starts in the opening game of a weekend series or tournament. Mueller went 8-1 in 2009, helping EIU win the OVC regular-season title. As a freshman, he started the Panthers' opening game of the OVC Tournament and NCAA Lincoln Regional. Mueller struck out 78 in 68 1/3 innings pitched this spring, leading the OVC in strikeouts per nine innings (10.2). His 78 Ks ranked seventh in a season in program history. He also struck out 79 in 2008. He matched his collegiate high with 10 strikeouts in his starts against Murray State and Jacksonville State this season.
Billed in the preseason as an OVC Player of the Year candidate, Langfels lived up to the hype in 2010 by hitting .353 and leading the Colonels with 61 runs scored and a .696 slugging percentage. He also clubbed 16 home runs, 14 doubles, four triples, drove in 52 runs and swiped 12 bases. An all-around excellent performer, Langfels ranked in the top-ten in the OVC in eight major offensive categories during the regular season, including batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. With a triple on March 24 against Miami (Ohio), the third-baseman netted his 17th career triple, which set the OVC career mark (previously 16 by Tennessee Tech's Bill Maclin from 1968-71). Langfels ended the season with 18 career triples.
Cunningham was named the 2010 OVC Player of the Year after rewriting the MSU single-season and career record books. He finished his senior season hitting .408 with 77 runs, 95 hits, 19 doubles, six triples, 22 home runs, 86 RBIs, 192 total bases and an .824 slugging percentage, setting single-season marks for runs, hits, triples, home runs, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage. He also set the OVC single-season record for RBIs and total bases. In his career, Cunningham .399 with 161 runs scored, 237 hits, 14 triples, 35 home runs, 169 RBIs, 406 total bases and a .684 slugging percentage. He finished his career as the school's all-time leader in batting average, hits, triples, RBIs and total bases, while ranking second in runs and fifth in home runs.
Oberacker finished his season ranked number three in the nation, leading the Golden Eagles and the Ohio Valley Conference with a batting average of .452. Batting in the clean-up position, Oberacker consistently hit over .400 for the entire season, and finished fourth in the nation in total hits with 108 - a statistic that ranks first in the OVC - 40 of which were for extra bases. His career batting average of .395 takes top honors in Tech history as he logged 188 hits in 476 at bats, including 39 doubles, nine triples and 12 home runs over the course of three years at Tech. He batted in 110 runs and rounded the bases - including 28 stolen bases - 130 times, accumulating 281 total bases with a career on-base percentage of .470. Throughout the season he maintained an on-base percentage of .527 and slugged .690, batting in 70 runs and becoming just the fourth athlete in Tech history to bring in over 60 runs in one season, earning him the three spot in Tech record books. He set single season records in 2010 for hits and doubles with 29, which ranks first in the OVC, and he ranks second in Tech's single season history in total bases with 165. Oberacker is also tied for the top spot in Tech record books with nine career triples. He recorded a conference high 281 total plate appearances, rounding the bases 67 times and logging five triples, six homers and 34 walks for 2010. He also recorded an outstanding 36 multi-hit games and fielded .992 on the season, .972 for his career. Oberacker received Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week accolades for week 13 of the season, was named first team All-OVC and second team Academic All-District. He is the first baseball player in Tech history to be named to an All-America team as well as to an Academic All-District team. He was named to the 2010 OVC all-tournament team, is also one of 10 finalists for Tennessee Tech University's Male Athlete of the Year award, and is on the 2010 John Olerud Two-Way Player watch list.
Adamson was a first-team All-Ohio Valley Conference selection after batting .349 with 13 home runs and 53 RBI leading the Gamecocks to the 2010 OVC Tournament Championship and a berth in the NCAA Regionals. The outfielder was named the OVC Player of the Week on May 24 after hitting four home runs and driving in 13 runs, including a pair of grand slam home runs and an inside-the-park home run at Morehead State. One of the fastest players in the Gamecock outfield, Adamson did not commit an error all season and converted his final 244 chances without an error, dating back to the 2009 season. He set the JSU school record for consecutive chances without an error and was just the 11th player in the school's Division I history to play error-free ball in a season.
Having appeared in at least one contest in each of his five years at Tech, Liberatore finished his career with a 6.34 earned run average, having allowed 116 earned runs of 133 runs on 222 hits. He finished his career with a 12-10 record, starting in 29 of his 50 career appearances and pitching a total of 164.2 innings. Liberatore held his opponents to a .318 batting average over the course of his career and struck out 155 total batters, 74 alone in the 2010 season. He battled back from a season-ending elbow injury in 2009 to lead the Golden Eagles in games started with 13 this season, throughout which he held up a 5.30 ERA and recorded a 6-4 record. Prior to his injury in 2009, he went 2-0 in his first two starts of the season with a 0.00 ERA, pitching a total of 17 innings and striking out 21 batters, allowing only six walks.
Edge finished the season with a .330 batting average with 11 home runs and a team-high 64 runs batted in, which ranks 11th in school history. He also led the team with 18 doubles and scored 42 runs for the Gamecocks. The catcher was named to the OVC All-Tournament team after going 5-for-13 (.385) with a triple, a homer and three RBI, including a tape-measure home run in the championship game. Edge led the team with 19 multi-RBI games, including a season-high five on Feb. 28 against Southern Illinois, and he also had 22 multiple hit games in 2010.
Jones made 28 appearances out of the bullpen for the Gamecocks and holds the school's Division I record for career saves with 18 after recording six in 2010, fourth most in the OVC. The Hoover, Ala., native posted a team-best 3.53 earned run average and held opposing batters to a .208 average, also the best on the team. He threw 51 innings out of the bullpen, including a four-inning save in the OVC Championship Game, a 10-8 win over top-seeded Tennessee Tech. Jones struck out 61 batters on the year, 10th in the OVC, while striking out 23 batters looking, seventh-best in the league.
OVC Players Selected in the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft
Todd Cunningham, OF/INF (Jacksonville State) - Atlanta Braves, 2nd Round (No. 53)
Stephen Pryor, RHP (Tennessee Tech) - Seattle Mariners, 5th Round (No. 162)
A.J. Kirby-Jones, 1B (Tennessee Tech) - Oakland Athletics, 9th Round (No. 275)
Drew Lee, SS (Morehead State) - Chicago White Sox, 12th Round (No. 368)
Josh Mueller, RHP (Eastern Illinois) - Colorado Rockies, 13th Round (No. 410)
Jayson Langfels, 3B (Eastern Kentucky) - Colorado Rockies, 16th Round (No. 500)
Wes Cunningham, 1B (Murray State) - San Diego Padres, 17th Round (No. 514)
Chad Oberacker, OF (Tennessee Tech) - St. Louis Cardinals, 19th Round (No. 589)
Daniel Adamson, OF (Jacksonville State) - Houston Astros, 20th Round (No. 603)
Adam Liberatore, LHP (Tennessee Tech) - Tampa Bay Rays, 21st Round (No. 641)
Andrew Edge, C (Jacksonville State) - Los Angeles Dodgers, 24th Round (No. 742)
Alex Jones, RHP (Jacksonville State) - Milwaukee Brewers, 27th Round (No. 819)