The 2024 Major League Baseball Draft took place this week. This year’s MLB draft consisted of 20 rounds of selecting high school, Junior College, and College eligible baseball players. The draft took place over several days, culminating with the final picks of Round 20 yesterday. If you are a player or a parent or a coach or a friend of a recent MLB draftee, congratulations. I was lucky enough to play with and against many, many players who not only were selected in the Major League Baseball draft, but went on to play at high levels and at the Major League level. And I have also been lucky enough to have interviewed a number of players who were MLB drafted and played professional baseball. It is a thrilling moment in time for the player and his family, one they will be talking about for the rest of their lives.

So, over the past few years, I have been lucky enough to have seen a number of MLB draftees in person. When I was in Rhode Island, I wrote about Rhode Island players, attended games, photographed games, and promoted players who were rising stars. While I am on the road, I love to visit college games and amateur summer collegiate league games to check out fields, players, and talent on the field. After watching the MLB draft on TV, then watching it live streamed on MLB.com for the last few days, I took some notes on players I was lucky enough to have seen in person who were picked in this year’s MLB Draft. Here are some photos I took of the player, where I saw him, who drafted him, what round, and whatever details I can remember about the game.

• Jayden Voelker, Right Handed Pitcher (RHP)
• Coventry High School, Coventry, RI
• Played his college baseball at Northern Essex CC, MA
• Drafted 8th Round, Tampa Bay Rays
• In this photo, Voelker is on the mound. He would pitch one of the best games I saw that year, 2021, in a losing effort vs. Central High School. Happy for Voelker because his character matched his skills on the field, class act.

• Ryan Andrade, Right Handed Pitcher (RHP)
• Middletown High School, Middletown, RI
• Played his college baseball at University of Rhode Island, then University of Pittsburgh
• Drafted 7th Round, Tampa Bay Rays
• In this photo, taken at East Greenwich High School, Andrade’s hat kept flying off his head with every powerful pitch. Andrade was absolutely dominant in his RI high school career. For this game, he pitched like an ace against my HS teammate and EGHS Head Coach Bob Downey’s East Greenwich team.

• John Holobetz, Right Handed Pitcher (RHP)
• Old Dominion University
• Drafted 5th Round, Milwaukee Brewers
• Rachel and I went to see ODU vs. Northeastern University in March of 2024. It was my first trip to Bud Metheny Stadium, my first ODU game, and I’m so psyched to have seen the stadium before it got demolished. A new stadium is in the works for the ODU Baseball team, set to open in a few years time.

• Mike Sirota, Centerfield, (CF)
• Northeastern University
• Drafted 3rd Round, Cincinnati Reds
• Again, going back to the ODU game, Sirota played CF for the Northeastern Huskies and batted 3rd. It was a sunny, chilly afternoon in Norfolk and I remember wearing jeans and a golf shirt. And watched others from New England shed their winter coats and soak in the 50 something degree March day. Probably 30 degrees warmer than their homes in Boston and surrounding cities

• Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, Shortstop (SS)
• Rutgers University
• Newport Gulls SS, Summer of 2022
• Drafted 3rd Round, Oakland A’s
• Ok, I have seen a ton of players play for the Newport Gulls who got drafted into Major League baseball. But for some reason, this name stuck and when I saw him picked in the 3rd round, I remembered taking a photo of the lineup card outside Cardines Field, Newport. The Gulls are always a great summer league team and consistently have tons of top collegiate talent every summer.

• Peyton Stovall, 2nd Base (2B)
• University of Arkansas
• Drafted 4th Round, Cincinnati Reds
• This photo was taken on a random night in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I was in Arkansas for training and decided to take the hour drive from Fort Smith to Fayetteville to see the Hogs played Omaha at famous Baum-Walker Stadium. I watched about 5 innings of Arkansas just laying down the law, crushing hit after hit, homer after homer to the tune of like 17-0 when I left. It was an awesome college baseball experience with some crazy fun Arkansas Baseball fans!

• D’Angelo Ortiz, 3rd Base (3B)
• Miami Dade Community College
• Brockton Rox, Futures Collegiate League, 2022
• Drafted 19th Round, Boston Red Sox
• Rachel and I took a drive up to Brockton, MA for a Brockton Rox game that featured several sons of former Major League baseball players. The sons of Keith Foulke, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Gary Sheffield, and Pedro Martinez all played that summer for the Brockton Rox of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. I got to watch D’Angelo hit and I believe he played 2nd base, maybe 3rd I can’t remember exactly. One thing I do remember is that D’Angelo batted right handed, unlike his HOF father, David Ortiz.

Having been to a number of Cape Cod League, New England Collegiate Baseball League, Futures League, and many college baseball games over the past decade, I am sure I am missing someone, so I do apologize. As for the 2024 MLB Draft, these players mentioned in this blog will now face new challenges in their baseball lives. Meeting new coaches, learning a new position, maybe learning a new pitch or a new swing, traveling to the far reaches of the United States of America to suit up for a minor league team. They are taking the next step in the dream cycle that started when they first picked up a glove, a baseball, a bat at a young age and dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. I wish them and all the 2024 MLB Draftees the very best as they make their way up their organizational charts to the Show!!!