ASU Baseball Sees 10 Players Picked in First Two Days of MLB Draft

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As expected, junior Seth Blair, the 2010 Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year, was the first ASU player taken off the board, as he was selected 46th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2010 MLB Draft on Monday.

Blair, 12-0 with a 3.06 ERA this season, also will be joined in the Cardinals minor-league system by fellow pitcher Jordan Swagerty.

Swagerty was selected 75th overall on Tuesday and is projected as a reliever for the organization. The sophomore leads the Pac-10 with 14 saves this season and also sports a 2.05 ERA.

After a few rounds of no picks from ASU, Sun Devils started getting drafted left and right.

Junior pitcher Merrill Kelly was selected in the eighth round (251st overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Just a few picks later, senior slugger Kole Calhoun was picked up by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at pick number 264.

One of the more interesting Sun Devils selected was senior pitcher Josh Spence to the San Diego Padres in the ninth round.

The pick was surprising for two reasons. The first, most notably, is that Spence hasn't pitched a single inning all season.

And yet someone out there felt he was worth taking a chance on. That team, ironically, is the Padres, who have a man named Pat Murphy as a special assistant in the organization. ASU fans probably remember the name.

A coincidence, we're sure.

After a few rounds of nothing, sophomore shortstop Drew Maggi was the sixth Sun Devil selected. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected the Phoenix native in the 15th round at 447th overall.

Junior pitcher Jimmy Patterson was the next Sun Devil nabbed by the majors, as he went in the 18th round to Tampa Bay.

The hometown D-Backs decided to get in on the action in the 21st round as they selected ASU team captain Raoul Torrez.

The ninth Sun Devil selected came in the 23rd round as junior catcher Xorge Castillo went to the Padres at the 694th overall pick.

This means that three pairs of Sun Devils were drafted by the same organization and may have a chance to play together professionally -- Blair and Swagerty (St. Louis), Kelly and Patterson (Tampa Bay) and Spence and Castillo (San Diego).

The tenth and final Sun Devil taken in the first 30 rounds was sophomore pitcher Jake Borup, who was also taken in the 23rd round (711th overall) by the Philadelphia Phillies.

The final 30 rounds of the draft (31-60) will take place on Wednesday.