2014 MLB Draft: Red Sox select 8 players on day 2
Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Red Sox continued to build toward the future as they acquired a slew of young talent on day two of the 2014 MLB draft Friday,. In rounds 3 through 10, the club selected 8 players in total. 4 of those picks were pitchers.The club made 3 selections on the opening day of the draft Thursday.
Boston held the second to last pick in each of the final 8 rounds. They began the day selecting Jake Cosart with the 103rd overall pick in third-round.
Cosart, a pitcher from Florida State, is the younger brother of Astros hurler Jarred Cosart. The former outfielder possesses two nasty pitches. He throws a fastball that tops out near 100-mph and a breaking ball with some serious bite to it. He’s likely destined for bullpen duty in the bigs.
At pick 134 in the fourth-round, Boston snagged Kevin McAvoy, also a pitcher. McAvoy pitched for Bryant College where he notched a team-high in innings pitched this past season. He recorded a 9-1 record on the way to leading the Bulldogs to the NCAA tourney.
The Red Sox selected their second firstbaseman of the draft in the fifth-round. Josh Ockimey was drafted with pick 164. He played ball at Neumann Goretti High School in Philadelphia this past season and is said to be a slugger. He’ll play college ball at Indiana University.
They then drafted outfielder Danny Mars with pick 194 in the sixth-round. Mars is a centerfielder. He batted .380 and swiped 25 bases this past season at Chipola College. He’ll be playing for Florida State next year.
Reid Reilly was drafted in the seventh-round with the 224th overall pick. Reilly served as Cal Poly’s closer this past season. He tied the school record in saves as a sophmore and throws a fastball in the mid 90s. His secondary pitches are raw though.
With the 254th pick of the eighth-round, the Red Sox drafter catcher Ben Moore from the University of Alabama. Moore played a lot of outfield as well, but it was his .342 average as a freshman that caught Boston’s eye. He rarely struck out during his college career and even clubbed nine dingers as a junior.
The Red Sox followed that up by taking pitcher Kevin Steen with the 284th pick in the ninth-round. Steen, who pitched at Tennesse’s Oak Ridge High School this past season, still has a long way to go in terms of his pitch developmemt. He’ll play for the University of Tennessee this upcoming year.
They wrapped up the day by drafting Cole Sturgeon in the tenth-round with pick 314. The outfielder batted .325 his senior year at the University of Louisville. He also pitched there as well.