The second day of the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft saw the Chicago White Sox focus on the state of California; specifically Berkley.
Three of the club’s first 12 picks involved University of California Golden Bears. Starting with:
Erik Johnson, right-handed pitcher taken in the second round out of Cal at pick #80. Johnson is 6-4 record with a 2.94 ERA over 16 starts this season.
Sox scouts refer to him as “a Curt Schilling-type guy.”
Shortstop Marcus Semien was drafted in the sixth round. He has a .272 average with 32 RBIs for the Golden Bears.
Chadd Krist rounds out the Cal troika. Krist, a catcher is hitting .306 and is second on the team with 40 RBIs. He was taken in the 13th round.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank and Facebook
The following is a recap of the Chicago White Sox first 30 selections in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft:
Round Name Pos. Age Ht. Wt. School (Hometown)
1A Keenyn Walker OF 20 6-3 190 Central Arizona College (Salt Lake City, Utah)
2 Erik Johnson RHP 21 6-4 230 University of California-Berkeley (Los Altos, Calif.)
3 Jeffrey Soptic RHP 20 6-6 220 Johnson County Community College (Leawood, Kan.)
4 Kyle McMillen RHP 21 6-1 200 Kent State University (North Canton, Ohio)
5 Scott Snodgress LHP 21 6-6 215 Stanford University (Yucaipa, Calif.)
6 Marcus Semien SS 20 6-0 185 University of California-Berkeley (San Francisco, Calif.)
7 Kevan Smith C 22 6-4 240 University of Pittsburgh (Cranberry Township, Pa.)
8 Ian Gardeck RHP 20 6-2 210 Angelina College (Lake in the Hills, Ill.)
9 Matthew Lane LHP 20 6-6 195 Northwest Florida State College (Marietta, Ga.)
10 Ben O’Shea LHP 19 6-6 255 Santa Fe College (Reading, Fla.)
11 Blair Walters LHP 21 6-0 200 University of Hawaii at Manoa (Oak Park, Calif.)
12 Andrew Virgili RHP 21 6-2 205 Lynn University (Tampa, Fla.)
13 Chadd Krist C 21 5-11 190 University of California-Berkeley (Petaluma, Calif.)
14 Mark Ginther 3B 21 6-3 200 Oklahoma State University (Tulsa, Okla.)
15 David Herbek SS 22 6-2 182 James Madison University (King George, Va.)
16 Chris Bassitt RHP 22 6-5 205 University of Akron (Curtice, Ohio)
17 Collin Kuhn OF 22 6-0 200 University of Arkansas (Beaver Dam, Wis.)
18 Bryan Blough RHP 21 6-2 200 Kennesaw State University (Newnan, Ga.)
19 Kevin Vance RHP 20 6-0 208 University of Connecticut (Solana Beach, Calif.)
20 Martin Medina 3B 21 6-0 200 Cal State Bakersfield (Ventura, Calif.)
21 Joe De Pinto 2B 22 6-1 190 University of Southern California (Sunland, Calif.)
22 Blake Drake RHP 22 6-7 205 Indiana State University (Louisville, Ky.)
23 Mike Marjama C 21 6-2 210 Long Beach State University (Granite Bay, Calif.)
24 Mark Haddow OF 23 6-2 215 University of California-Santa Barbara (San Diego, Calif.)
25 Chris Devenski RHP 20 6-3 200 Cal State Fullerton (Artesia Calif.)
26 Grant Buckner SS 23 6-2 215 West Virginia University (Elkview, W. Va.)
27 Jake Cose RHP 20 6-5 195 San Juaquin Delta Junior College (Stockton, Calif.)
28 Kyle Robinson RF 22 6-3 210 University of Arkansas (Boca Raton, Fla.)
29 Dustin Hayes CF 19 6-2 180 Walnut Grove High School (Langley, B.C.)
30 Brandon Parrent LHP 20 6-3 215 Texas A&M University (Flower Mound, Texas)