Rock baseball draft history
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Slippery Rock University catcher
Matt Adams was selected in the 23rd round Wednesday of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
Adams was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 699th selection of this year's draft. He is currently considering a contract offer from the National League team, according to Rock head coach
Jeff Messer.
He was the first Rock player selected in the draft since 2000 when four players were picked: Catcher Dan DeCola in the 16th round by the Minnesota Twins, pitcher Craig Petulla in the 25th round by the Houston Astros, pitcher Tom Sullivan in the 29th round by the Twins and third baseman Greg Stokes in the 35th round by the Twins.
Adams has played three seasons at SRU and has earned All-America honors in each of those seasons. He received first-team All-America honors this spring from both Daktronics, Inc. (Division II sports information directors) and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. He was also the Daktronics national Player of the Year.
A native of Philipsburg and graduate of Philipsburg-Osceola High School, Adams earned second-team All-America status this spring from the American Baseball Coaches Association.
Adams led the nation, Division II, in hitting this spring with a school-record .495 batting average. He also ranked fifth nationally in on base percentage with a .566 mark, eighth in both slugging percentage (.853) and total doubles (24), ninth in doubles per game (0.47), 10th in total hits (91) and 12th in total bases (157).
He also ranked in the top 50 nationally in six other statistical categories: runs per game (1.25, 34th), total runs (64, 35th), runs batted in per game (1.25, 37th), runs batted in (64, 40th), total home runs (14, 48th) and home runs per game (0.27, 49th).
In addition to his All-America honors this spring, Adams earned regional Player of the Year honors from Daktronics, the ABCA and the NCBWA. He was also selected by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division head coaches as the division's Player of the Year.
The first-team All-America honors earned by Adams this spring completed an ascent up the national honors list. He earned third-team NCBWA All-America status as a freshman in 2007 and was a second-team NCBWA All-America selection in 2008, as well as being named to honorable mention ABCA All-America status.
Adams is also the recipient of three straight all-region citations from the ABCA, Daktronics and the NCBWA and earned All-PSAC-West first-team honors in each of his three collegiate seasons. He was the PSAC-West Rookie of the Year in 2007..
In addition to his batting average school record, Adams also set a new school record for single-season slugging percentage (old mark: .807 by Brad Lowe, 1998) and tied the SRU single-season records for hits (91 by Joe Neidrick, 2003) and doubles (24, Adams, 2007).
If he signs a professional contract and does not return to SRU for his senior season, Adams will also depart with the school's career batting average and slugging percentage records. His current career batting average of .454 is 51 points higher than the existing mark of .403 set by Sal Agostinelli (1981-83). His career slugging percentage of .749 is over 100 points higher than the current mark of .640 held by John Samsa (1981-83).
Behind Adams' lead, The Rock compiled a 36-15 final record and finished third in the PSAC-West standings this spring.
Notes: The highest a Rock player has been selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft is believed to be first baseman Gary Gill's eighth-round selection by the Cardinals 1982 ... Adams and Gill are two of four Rock players who were selected by the Cardinals. Third baseman Jeff Pasquale was selected in the 21st round of the 1982 draft, while catcher Sal Agostinelli was the team's 22nd-round pick one year later.
