Advertisement
football Edit

Good day for baseball program

LSU coach Paul Mainieri will have his two most productive hitters back for next season.
On the final day of the 2012 major league baseball draft Wednesday, Mason Katz was not selected and Raph Rhymes was chosen in the 30th round by the New York Yankees. Therefore, one can easily surmise that Katz and Rhymes will be around for their senior seasons with the Tigers.
Advertisement
Heading into LSU's super-regional series against Stony Brook which starts Friday, Katz is batting .323 with a team-leading 11 home runs and 49 runs batted in. Rhymes has a best-in-the-nation .452 batting average with four homers and a team-high 52 RBIs.
Besides Rhymes, only one other current Tigers player was drafted Wednesday. Senior third baseman Tyler Hanover was picked by the Detroit Tigers in the 33rd round. Junior pitchers Brent Bonvillain and Joey Bourgeois were not drafted.
Two LSU signees were chosen Wednesday. Pitcher Will LaMarche from Charbot (Cal.) Junior College was selected in the 18th round by the Minnesota Twins. Infielder Alex Bregman from Albuquerque (N.M.) was chosen in the 29th round by the Boston Red Sox.
LSU had a total of five members from its current team drafted - seniors Austin Nola (fifth round/Miami Marlins) and Hanover and juniors Kevin Gausman (first round/Baltimore Orioles), Nick Goody (sixth round/New York Yankees) and Rhymes.
The Tigers had five signees drafted - Joey Gallo (compensatory round/Texas Rangers), Jesmuel Valentin (compensatory round/Los Angeles Dodgers), Hayden Jennings (sixth round/Washington Nationals), LaMarche and Bregman. Catcher Chris Chinea from Miami (Fla.) was not chosen.
Major league organizations have a deadline of July 13 to get their drafted players signed to a contract.
Advertisement