By Peter Pagliaro
Little Falls, New York – They all had the same dream of playing baseball in the major leagues and for Gus Craig, Keegan Long, Jordan Serena and Trey Stover those dreams are one step closer to reality as MLB teams came calling in the 2015 MLB Draft.
Keegan Long (2013) was the first Mohawk Valley DiamondDawg to hear his name called in the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft when in the 29th round (856th overall) the Arizona DiamondBacks selected the Edon, Ohio native out of St. Joseph’s College in Indiana. During the 2015 season the right-hanged Long appeared in nine games for the St. Joseph’s Pumas making all nine starts. Long finished the season with a 1-5 record and a career-best 3.15 ERA while completed 54.1 innings, striking out 67 batters, fourth-best in the conference and walked only eight batters holding opponents to a .252 batting average.
It wasn’t long before the next Mohawk Valley DiamondDawg would come off the board when in the 30th round the Seattle Mariners selected Gus Craig with the 905th overall pick. The right fielder from Eugene, Oregon was selected from Columbia University (NY) where in 2015 he batted .332 in 48 games, compiling 44 runs, 61 hits, 14 doubles,4 triples, 9 homeruns, 36 RBI, 7 stolen bases and had a whopping .400 on-base percentage.
Five rounds later the DiamondDawgs would again see two players be drafted when the Kansas City Royals selected shortstop Trey Stover (2014) with the 1059th pick out of the University of Hartford (CT). In four seasons at Hartford, the Lock Haven, Pennsylvania native amassed a career .259 batting average, playing in 190 games and compiling 88 runs, 180 hits, 31 doubles, 4 triples, and 4 homeruns, 54 RBI, 19 stolen bases and a .329 on-base percentage.
A few selections later Jordan Serena (2013) would hear his named called in the 35th round (1065th overall) by the Los Angeles Angels. Serena, a centerfielder from Colombia (NY) put up solid numbers for the Columbia Lions in his final season posting a .319 batting average over 51 games, with 44 runs, 66 hits, 8 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homeruns, 23 RBI and swiping 21 bases in 28 tries and sporting an on-base percentage of .396.