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Sports TwitterRedHawks awaiting baseball draft
Miami juniors could leave early if pros call their names.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
OXFORD — Miami University juniors John Ely and Connor Graham are looking at Thursday and Friday with great anticipation.
So is Miami baseball coach Dan Simonds, with just a little trepidation thrown in.
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Major League Baseball's two-day draft will begin Thursday in Orlando, Fla., and there is a good chance Simonds will lose his two best starting pitchers.
Ely is a two-time all-Mid-American Conference hurler whose 8-3 record this spring included a 6-2 victory over 12th-ranked Texas. Graham was Miami's No. 2 starter and, like Ely, can put together a string of strikeouts.
"I think their chances to be drafted were very good before the (spring) season even started," Simonds said. "They drew a lot of attention from the major leagues and put themselves in a very good position."
"I've heard a few things, some very good things, that I have a chance to go very high," Ely said. "But it's all rumors until it happens."
Simonds said he thinks it will happen.
"Different organizations have different takes on each one of them," he said, "but I have a general sense that both will be taken very high, definitely in the top 10 rounds, potentially in the top six."
The Miami coach wouldn't be human if he didn't have mixed emotions about Ely and Graham leaving his program a year early.
"It would be very tough to lose both of them," Simonds said, "not only as players, but also as people and what they've meant to the program."
Ely said he would leave Miami only if he were selected by a certain point in the draft.
"If I get drafted after the 10th round, I'll probably go back to school," Ely said. "Going back to Miami wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It's a win-win situation."
Ely and Graham would be just the latest in a long list of Miami pitchers to enter the professional ranks. Last year, RedHawk hurlers Matt Long, Keith Weiser and Graham Taylor all were drafted, and all three are pitching in the minors this season — pitching very well, in fact. They have a combined record of 17-3.
"It's exciting to see that they're putting up good numbers," Simonds said.
Ely wouldn't mind joining that group and start putting up some impressive numbers of his own, preferably with one of the farm teams of the Chicago White Sox.
"I'm from the south side of Chicago and I've always been a Chicago White Sox fan," Ely explained. "It would be nice. But I'd like to go anywhere, as long as I get a chance to pitch."
Simonds said he thinks a couple of his non-pitchers also have a chance to be drafted.
"I think Brandon Hillier (senior outfielder) and Josh Hula (sophomore catcher) have an outside shot. Brandon is a very good outfielder who knows how to play the game, and Josh put together a very good season and is a pro-caliber catcher."
ESPN2 is scheduled to broadcast the first four hours of the draft, starting Thursday at 11 a.m.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
