Detroit Tigers Take Former Dawg in 10th Round of MLB Draft

2015 DiamondDawg Sam Machonis has been drafted in the 10th round (295th pick overall) by Detroit Tigers in the Major League Baseball Draft.

Detroit holds its Spring Training in Lakeland and the Tiger’s Class-A club, the Flying Tigers, call Lakeland their home, playng in the Florida State League. Machonis, who is the eighth player picked by the Tigers in this year’s draft, hit a home run in the Moccasins’ annual Spring Training game vs. Detroit this season.

Machonis, who is the first player from the Sunshine State Conference taken in this year’s draft, led the his Florida Southern team  in 10 offensive categories this past season, including batting average (.388), runs scored (59), hits (80), homers (13), RBI (52), total bases (136), slugging percentage (.660), on-base percentage (.471) and stolen bases (21). Defensively, he was charged with just one error in 112 total chances for a .991 fielding percentage. His 80 base hits is second most in the SSC while his 13 homers and 59 runs scored were fifth most. Machonis also ranked third with 21 stolen bases and fourth with 136 total bases. On the season, Machonis had 24 multi-hit games and 15 games with two or more RBI.

He was named an All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Assocation and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association. In addition to being honored as an All-South Region players by the same two organizations, he was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association All-South squad as well as the All-Sunshine State Conference 1st Team.