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Three University of Utah baseball players were selected in the first nine rounds of the Major League Baseball draft for the first time in the program's history on Tuesday. The trio includes a pair of pitchers as well as a pair of native Utahns.
The Los Angeles Dodgers selected right-handed pitcher and Utah native Riley Ottesen in the fifth round with the 160th overall pick of the draft, while the Milwaukee Brewers selected record-setting right-hander Jayson Rose in the eighth round of the draft with the 234th overall pick and then drafted third baseman Dallas Carroll in the ninth round with the 264th pick.
Ottesen went to Los Angeles and worked out for the Dodgers on June 4. He spoke to reporters at the Utah campus on Tuesday wearing a Dodgers baseball cap as well as a Dodgers T-shirt.
"Things looked to have gone pretty well out there," Ottesen said. "I was able to talk to some of their head guys out there, and they seemed to like me. I went into the draft with high expectations that the Dodgers, the Dodgers, the Dodgers, and they pulled through. It all worked out."
MLB.com approximated Ottesen's draft position at a projected bonus value of $299,300, Rosey's at $164,900 and Carroll's at $144,200.
Ottesen, a Highland resident and former American Fork High School standout, recently completed his sophomore season with the Utes. He could begin his professional career with Dodgers' Rookie League affiliate in Ogden.
Ottesen, 22, finished his sophomore season with a 5-4 record and a 4.93 ERA in 16 games (15 starts). In two seasons with the Utes, Ottesen has gone 7-6 in 39 games (18 starts) with three saves, a 5.37 ERA, 119 strikeouts and 52 walks in 1371⁄3 innings.
Rose, a three-time All-Pac-12 honoree (twice a first-team selection) set the program's career strikeout record (256) this season after setting the single-season mark during last season's conference championship run. In three seasons, he's posted a 19-13 record and a 3.23 ERA with 256 strikeouts and 118 walks in 287 innings.
Rose, a resident of Alpine, Calif., went 8-3, led the team and ranked fifth in the Pac-12 in wins and ranked seventh in strikeouts (82) last season.
Carroll, from Taylorsville, batted .369 with a .591 slugging percentage, 52 RBIs, seven home runs and 17 doubles in 51 games as a senior this spring. He finished his career with a .311 batting average and .445 slugging percentage. Last year, the Braves drafted his brother, Dalton, as a pitcher in the 21st round.
"We've talked to each other, and we're both excited to go out there and continue playing together," Carroll said of going to the same team as Rose. "We both enjoyed playing alongside each other. We were kind of bummed when we took the field for the last time, so knowing we're going to go out there and play professional ball for the same team gets us both pretty excited."
Carroll and Ottesen were teammates on travel squads as youth players.
In the previous nine seasons, the Utes have had nine pitchers drafted. That group includes five pitchers taken in the first 10 rounds led by Tyler Wagner, a fourth-round pick of the Brewers in 2012 (155th overall). Wagner made his major league debut in May 2015. He's currently with the Texas Rangers' Triple-A affiliate.
The Utes have had at least one player drafted each year since 2011, including a trio of picks in 2014. C.J. Cron, a member of the Los Angeles Angels, became the highest draft pick ever for the Utes in 2011 when he was selected 17th overall by the Angels.
"You're always happy for the guys that get drafted and move on," Utes coach Bill Kinneberg said last week. "I think all of our players that we're recruiting now, being in the Pac-12, they all have aspirations of going on to Major League Baseball and give that a try. Every guy that we can get there is a feather in the program's cap in the fact that people can come here after not getting drafted out of high school and become good draft picks, that we're going to be able to develop them and this is a good baseball school that attracts pro scouts and so forth."
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