Baseball • Longoria
was drafted third overall by the Tampa
Bay Devil Rays Tuesday.
Photo
from the Sports Information Department.
Former
Dirtbag Longoria picked third in MLB draft
By
Patrick Creaven
Summer Forty-Niner
Sports Editor
As expected, it didn’t take long for Evan Longoria to hear his name announced
during the 2006 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
The Long Beach State third baseman was drafted third overall by the Tampa Bay
Devil Rays Tuesday. Longoria was the first positional player selected and is
the highest Dirtbag to ever be picked in the draft.
“Had we picked [first in the first round], Evan Longoria would have been
our selection,” said Tampa Bay executive vice president of baseball operations
Andrew Friedman to mlb.com.
“
He’s someone that coming into the draft we were very focused on. And
we project him as an above-average infielder with power and someone who will
get to the big leagues quickly. ”
Last season, Longoria hit .353, with 11 home runs and 43 RBIs for the Dirtbags.
Longoria signed a non-Major League contract soon after being drafted and is
expected to start his professional career with Tampa Bay’s single-A club
in Visalia, Calif. Although, Longoria expects to be in a Devil Rays uniform
in the foreseeable future.
“I’m hoping two years,” Longoria said in a conference call
after he was drafted. “The organization is giving me a good chance to move
up. I feel that a couple of years is all I will need.”
Longoria is the third LBSU infielder to be picked in the first round in the
last five years.
In 2001 former Dirtbag Bobby Crosby was selected with the 24th pick, and is
now the starting shortstop for the Oakland Athletics. Last year, the Colorado
Rockies selected another Dirtbag shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki, with the seventh
overall pick.
LBSU pitcher Andrew Carpenter was also drafted during Tuesday’s draft,
going 65th overall to the Philadelphia Phillies. Carpenter went 7-4 this past
season with a 2.94 ERA, and led the team in strikeouts with 99.
In the fourth round, another Dirtbag pitcher, Jared Hughes, was drafted by
the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hughes finished his collegiate career going 8-4 with
a 3.57 ERA.
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