There’s something about the third day of the draft for UCLA student-athletes lately. The third day of this year’s NFL Draft saw a bunch of Bruins taken and so did the third day of the MLB Draft.
A total of four Bruins were taken on Saturday, but, if you look at MLB.com’s Draft Tracker, you might think there was a fifth Bruin.
Bruin Luke Persico was taken in the 12th round as an outfielder by the Oakland Athletics. Persico could opt to return to UCLA since he has a year of eligibility left.
Then, in the 16th round, the Tampa Bay Rays selected catcher Dominic Miroglio whose college is listed as UCLA. While Miroglio did play a season in Westwood, he transfered to USF which explains why I didn’t know who he was when I saw his name in the Draft Tracker and incorrectly counted him as an eligible Bruin in my draft article on Thursday.
Bruin rightfielder Eric Filia is off to the Seattle Mariners’ organization as the redshirt senior was taken by them in the 20th round yesterday.
The final underclassman selected this year was junior outfielder Kort Peterson who was taken in the 23rd round by the world champion Kansas City Royals. With it unlikely that Bruin commits Mickey Moniak and Blake Rutherford will end up in Westwood, next year’s UCLA would certainly benefit from Peterson’s leadership as a senior, but we’ll have to wait to see if he returns or if he signs with the Royals.
Two more Bruin commits were selected in the 35th round when the Rockies picked Michael Toglia of Kopachuck HS in Gig Harbor, WA and the Cubs picked Ryan Kriedler from Davis Senior HS in Davis, CA.
The final current UCLA Bruin selected in this year’s draft was redshirt senior Christoph Bono who was picked in the 37th Round by the San Francisco Giants while the final commit selected was Jeremy Ydens from St. Francis HS in Campbell, CA by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 40th and final round of the draft.
Now, we have to sit and wait to see which of the players selected will opt to sign with the teams which picked them and which will either return for another year or, in the case of the commits, choose to spend the next three years getting an education.
Go Bruins!