NEW YORK — Major League Baseball’s amateur draft began Wednesday night with the first of a pandemic-shortened five rounds.
However, that did not keep one University of Georgia player from becoming the highest drafted Bulldog since 1987.
Right-handed pitcher Emerson Hancock was taken sixth overall by the Seattle Mariners. Hancock is the highest drafted Bulldog since pitcher Derek Lilliquist went sixth overall to Atlanta in 1987.
Jeff Pyburn, who was taken fifth by the San Diego Padres in 1980, remains as the highest drafted Georgia player in program history.
With the addition of Hancock, Georgia has had 11 players selected in the 1st round (including compensation and competitive balance picks). Two of those 11 have come under current head baseball coach Scott Stricklin and brings the total to 29 Bulldogs who have been drafted during his tenure.
Emerson was a weekend starter for the Bulldogs the last two seasons. He went 8-3 in 2019 with a 1.99 ERA that ranked eighth-lowest in school history. He was 2-0 with a 2.75 ERA, 34 strikeouts and only three walks in 24 innings over four starts in the shortened 2020 season. In his Bulldog career he was 16-7 with a 3.47 ERA in 33 appearances, all starts. He has tallied 206 strikeouts and 55 walks in 192 innings. Georgia was 14-4 and was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally when the season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think it’s a great fit for me, and I’m definitely excited,” Hancock told georgiadogs.com from his hometown, where he watched the draft with family and friends.
“I’m very blessed for the Mariners in believing in me, and I’m ready to get to work. I got the phone call and to hear the commissioner call your name, that’s something that hit me hard. It makes you remember all the past experiences, the tournaments, all the things you’ve done to get to this point and to have the special people with you, it hit me really hard.”
Scouts say he has an excellent command of four pitches, including his mid- to upper-90s fastball, a mid-80s slider, solid curveball and tough changeup.
(Georgiadogs.com contributed to this story.)
