Cardinals draft 2 from Mississippi
Published 3:34 am Friday, June 12, 2009
(AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals selected 27 players on the second day of the major league draft on Wednesday, nearly half of them pitchers.
St. Louis chose 13 pitchers, seven infielders, four outfielders and three catchers from rounds four through 30. The last 20 rounds are on Thursday.
The Cardinals chose two Mississippi pitchers: Joseph Bittle in the fourth round and Chris Corrigan in the 30th round. Both are former college teammates of Cardinals prospect Lance Lynn, now at Double-A Springfield.
Other high-round picks were shortstop Ryan Jackson of Miami (Fla.) in the fifth and outfielders Virgil Hill of Los Angeles Mission College and Kyle Conley of Washington in the fifth and sixth. Pitcher Trevor Rosenthal of Lee’s Summit, Mo., and Cowley Community College was taken in the 21st round.
Bittle was 5-2 with a 2.17 ERA although bothered by an arm injury last season. Jackson is considered one of the top defensive shortstops in the country, although he batted just .263 with four home runs last season.
Conley had 19 homers each of the last two seasons while Jason Stidham, chosen in the eighth round from Florida State, batted .363 with 12 homers.
Second baseman Joseph Bergman of College of Charleston, taken in the 22nd round, was the Southern Conference player of the year and batted .452. Lefthander Daniel Calhoun of Murray State, taken in the 29th round, threw 11 complete games.
Rosenthal made seven starts and also had seven saves at Cowley and had a 2.73 ERA.