Six CCU baseball players drafted, most for program since 2010

In the hours leading up to the biggest game of their collegiate careers, four more Coastal Carolina players were selected Saturday during the final day of Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft.

That brought the total to six Chanticleers drafted this year – not including two incoming signees – which is the most for the program since having seven players picked in 2010.

Senior right-handed pitcher Mike Morrison (27th round, Chicago White Sox), junior right-handed pitcher Alex Cunningham (28th round, Detroit Tigers), junior designated hitter G.K. Young (31st round, San Diego Padres) and senior right fielder Connor Owings (34th round, Arizona Diamondbacks) joined junior shortstop Michael Paez (fourth round, New York Mets) and senior third baseman Zach Remillard (10th round, White Sox), who were drafted Friday.

The Chants then turned their focus to the start of their best-of-three NCAA super regional series at Louisiana State, which they won 11-8 on Saturday night.

Afterward, Owings and Morrison – lifelong friends and teammates – reflected on what the first part of that day had been like for them.

“I was so happy for this guy,” Owings said of Morrison. “He deserves every single thing he’s getting. He works harder than anyone I’ve ever been around. He’s worked so hard since we were three years old. It’s a dream come true for both of us and to be with him in that moment when it happened, it was crazy.”

The players were playing pool, one of their regular off-field team activities as they kept tabs on MLB’s official online draft tracker.

“Gilley takes us to a pool hall to play pool every week. It was very fun, but I’d just like to say it was one of the longest days of our lives. That’s some real-world stuff, man. That’s our dream our whole lives,” Morrison said. “We work every day to do this, and to sit there and just wait and wait and wait, I’m crying waiting on him to get drafted, I’m crying on Remillard, all these guys, G.K. That was just the longest day ever. We sat there and checked the tracker for about seven hours. Coach Thomas actually yelled at us a little bit because we were worried so much about it, but this is real world as it gets. All these college teams have to deal with it at this time. It’s tough to do it on a day when you have to play a super regional. It’s a lot on you.”

Coastal Carolina also had two of its incoming recruits drafted Saturday as Carolina Forest High School catcher Ryan Gold was taken in the 27th round by the Toronto Blue Jays and shortstop Kea’von “K.V.” Edwards, out of Putnam City High School in Oklahoma, was taken in the 30th round by the Tampa Bay Rays.

For the seniors, the pressure is now off in regards to wondering if they’ll get a chance to pursue a professional career. For the others, they will later have decisions to make.

Paez will have a hard time turning down the Mets’ offer as a fourth-round draft pick (No. 130 overall), where the MLB-assigned slot value in 2015 for a signing bonus was $426,800, according to Baseball America.

Gold, meanwhile, told The Sun News that he was leaning toward signing with the Blue Jays and bypassing college.

Regardless, though, getting drafted is a special moment in any player’s career, and for the Chants it was quite a day Saturday – even before they took the field with LSU.

Morrison (806th overall) has certainly earned the opportunity to prove himself in the minor leagues after compiling a 7-1 record with 10 saves, a 0.79 earned-run average a silly .151 opponents’ batting average and 77 strikeouts against 19 walks over 56 2/3 innings, entering Saturday. He may find himself starting out his pro career in the same place as Remillard once everything shakes out.

Cunningham (835th overall) is 9-3 with a 3.66 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 98 1/3 innings this year and has seemed to put behind him the arm issues that plagued him the past few seasons. While he still has a year of eligibility remaining, he’s already in his fourth year with the program after taking a redshirt season due to injury.

Young (924th overall) possesses the kind of raw power that scouts love and was batting .342 with 16 home runs and 63 RBIs entering Saturday. He has 28 home runs total in three seasons with the Chants.

And Owings (1,019th overall) might be the best draft day story of them all, joining the organization where his brother Chris Owings is an outfielder/middle infielder in his fourth Major League season. Connor Owings was listed as a second baseman on MLB’s official Draft Tracker, which is the position he made 40 starts at last season before settling in right field this year.

“It had been a long day and we were getting ready to start scouting reports and getting ready to go, so I kind of just pushed it behind me,” Owings said. “I didn’t even know I had gotten drafted and then coach [Chris] Carter came banging on the door and was telling me about it. And of course I go to the D-backs and I get an opportunity with my brother. It’s a tremendous blessing and I’m just so happy that it worked out for me.”

This is the third time the Chants have had six players drafted in the same year, joining the 1983 and 2005 teams while the 2010 and 2007 teams each had seven players selected.

Check back after the game Saturday night for reaction from the Chants’ latest draftees.

This story was originally published June 11, 2016 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Six CCU baseball players drafted, most for program since 2010."