STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University had a pair of players on its roster and two signees drafted Wednesday on the final day of the Major League Baseball first-year player draft.
Left-handed pitcher Nick Routt decided Tuesday he wasn’t going to worry about the draft and his future so he decided to go to the local public pool. The problem with the 22-year-old’s idea is he couldn’t enjoy the sun and water because he was on the phone with professional baseball teams all afternoon.
“I went to the pool and then had a bunch of teams calling me,” Routt said. “They wanted to gauge my signability and whether I wanted to come back to school for one more year.”
After these constant calls from multiple professional teams, Routt was selected Wednesday in the 16th round, 502nd overall, by the Cincinnati Reds.
“I thought I’d get picked early (Wednesday) so I flipped up my laptop to see if I’d find my name pop up and there I was five minutes into the day,” Routt said. “It was a nice feeling.”
Along with Routt, MSU starting pitcher Kendall Graveman (36th round, Miami Marlins) and two Bulldogs signees for next season, infielder William DuPont and Jacob Robson, were selected in the draft. MSU star right-handed pitcher Chris Stratton was previously selected Monday in the first round, 20th overall, by the San Francisco Giants.
Routt (3-5, 3.80) has compiled a 12-12 career record with a 4.06 earned run average in 50 appearances, 39 of those as a starter. Routt averaged nearly a strikeout per inning pitched, registering 196 strikeouts in 207 innings pitched. He registered five complete games during his MSU career, including a staff-high four during a freshman campaign in which he was accorded PingBaseball.com Freshman All-America team and received Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team honors.
“I think there’s no doubt Nick Routt can have a solid professional career and pitch for a quite a long time,” MSU coach John Cohen said.
Routt, a fourth year junior who has graduated with a degree in Business Administration and a Finance major, confirmed to The Dispatch he will more than likely sign with the Reds organization.
“I think it’s time I start my professional baseball career,” Routt said. “Playing pro ball is what I’ve always wanted to do.”
Routt has a 92 mile-per-hour fastball, a big overhand curveball with a sharp slurve action and has reintroduced himself to one of the better circle changeups in one of the better college baseball leagues in America.
“I think I’ll be prepared for whatever professional baseball has in store for me,” Routt said. “I think all the ups and downs I’ve gone through with injuries has made me learn with adversity.”
Routt already has an idea of what minor league baseball will include on and off the field after pitching in the premier Cape Cod League last summer.
“I’m sure I’ll be in the middle of nowhere with long bus rides but the key is as long as I’m playing baseball and getting paid to do it, that’s the dream right there,” Routt said. “I think on the mound what I learned in the Cape and at Mississippi State was how to run my own deal, call my own pitches and work my way through a game.”
Routt suffered a severe injury to his pitching arm suffered on March 21, 2010 at Florida. It was Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., that told Routt last year he’d done significant damage to his flexor muscle throwing that pronated changeup that looked like a screwball, and he was looking at career-threatening Tommy John surgery to the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.
“I think any athlete will tell you that when their not healthy you just can’t do anything 100 percent like you could before,” Routt said.
“What’s worse is you just don’t feel comfortable doing it like you did before either. That’s the first thing you have to get back.”
Routt’s biggest moment at MSU was his final complete game, a shutout of Georgia Tech University in the 2011 NCAA Atlanta Regional final to get the Bulldogs into their first Super Regional appearance. Routt held the Yellow Jackets allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits with six strikeouts in the route of earning a berth on the NCAA Atlanta Regional All-Tournament Team.
“I came to Mississippi State to accomplish an individual goal, get drafted, and a team goal — help win a national championship,” Routt said. “We didn’t get the national championship but the SEC Tournament championship was such a great experience and a great memory.”
Graveman led the MSU staff with 16 starts in 2012 while recording 59 strikeouts in 89.2 innings pitched. The Bulldogs regular Saturday starter on the mound this season registered the first complete game in the SEC in 2012 in a victory in a series-finale contest at Louisiana State University. Graveman, a pitch-to-contact hurler, earned an impressive win in his final road start of the campaign. Combining with relief ace Jonathan Holder on a three-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory at No. 1 University of Florida. In his three-year career, Graveman is 11-8 with one save and a 4.03 career earned run average with 118 strikeouts in 49 appearances, 29 of them being starts and 196 1/3 innings.
Cohen and the MSU staff are feeling good about the likelihood of Graveman deciding to return for his final year of eligibility.
“The opportunity is there and we will fully support him no matter what decision he makes,” Cohen said. “He’s also one year away from an Engineering degree from Mississippi State University and on the field has the opportunity to be the Friday night guy for us next year.”
Graveman was named to the 2012 SEC All-Defensive Team this year, marking the first such honor for a Diamond Dog since the league initiated the defensive all-star unit in 2008.
Three picks after Routt was selected, Lafayette High School infielder William DuPont out of Wildwood, Mo., was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 16th round. DuPont committed to MSU last July after his official visit and, due to the new MLB collective bargaining agreement, has a solid chance to enroll in school this fall.
“(The draft) unfolded actually the way we thought it would as a coaching staff,” Cohen said. “We feel very good about the position we’re in with both of our drafted signees but more importantly we feel good about the position they’re in to make an informed decision.”
DuPont, a speedy left-handed hitter who was recruited as a middle infielder, picked MSU over scholarship offers from Wichita State, Missouri and Oklahoma. The 18-year-old made unofficial visits to Wichita State, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Mississippi State before coming to his decision.
The 6-foot, 175-pounder was a St. Louis Post-Dispatch first-team All-Metro selection as a junior this spring while batting .528 with nine doubles, two triples, six home runs, 35 RBIs, 41 runs scored, 25 stolen bases and posted a .600 on-base percentage.
DuPont hit .300 (24-for-80) with 10 extra-base hits, 17 RBIs, 25 runs scored, 15 stolen bases and a .398 obp as a freshman and batted .235 (4-for-17) with one double, two RBIs, four runs scored, eight steals and a .435 obp during a sophomore season shortened by a hamstring injury.
Canadian high school outfielder and MSU signee Jacob Robson was drafted in the 30th round, 915th overall, by the San Diego Padres.
Robson played on the Canadian Junior National Team and led the team in hitting with a .500 batting average, three doubles, five walks, five stolen bases, and seven RBI in 10 games. Scouts have considered the 5-foot-10, 175-pound outfielder one of the top players in Canada’s class of due to his speed and defensive ability.
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