Eight Canadians selected on day two of the MLB draft

Photo: Baseball Canada

July 12, 2021

Baseball Canada

OTTAWA – Junior National Team alumnus Calvin Ziegler (Heidelberg, Ont.) leads a list of eight Canadians that were selected on day two of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft that saw rounds two through 10 take place.

The New York Mets used their second-round pick (46th overall) on the right-handed pitcher who spent three years in the Junior National Team program (2018-2020).

In the fourth round, outfielder Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) went to the Oakland A’s with the 127th overall pick. Clarke has spent the past three seasons at Cal State Northridge where he hit .324 with eighth home runs in 38 games in 2021.

A pair of Canadians were selected in the fifth round in high school left-hander Mitch Bratt (Newmarket, Ont.) who went to the Texas Rangers while righty Eric Cerantola (Oakville, Ont.) was selected five picks later by the Kansas City Royals.

Cerantola saw action in 10 games with College World Series champion Mississippi State where he struck out 24 batters in 17 1/3 innings pitched.

Bratt has pitched in the inaugural MLB Draft League where he has struck out 44 batters in 28 innings pitched and has a 2.57 ERA.

Bratt represented Canada at the 2019 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup while Cerantola was part of the Canadian entry at the same event in 2017.

Winkler, Manitoba’s Tristan Peters, an outfielder out of Southern Illinois, went to the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh round before right-handed pitcher Jordan Marks (Brights Grove, Ont.) was taken by the Detroit Tigers in the eighth round out of South Carolina-Upstate.

Peters led Southern Illinois in hitting with a .355 average and added six home runs in starting all 60 games played in 2021 while Marks had a 10-2 record on the mound with a 2.54 ERA over 15 starts.

The ninth round saw a pair of Canadians taken in catcher Liam Hicks (Toronto, Ont.) going to the Texas Rangers out of Arkansas Sate while Biggar, Sask., native Garrett Hawkins, a right-handed pitcher from UBC, went to the San Diego Padres.

Hicks led all Arkansas State batters with a .344 average in 2021 and had seven home runs in starting 41 games.

Hawkins saw action in the MLB Draft League throwing 24 innings where he carried a 2.62 ERA with 32 strikeouts.

The MLB Draft will conclude tomorrow with rounds 11 to 20 beginning at Noon E.T.

Canadians selected in 2021 MLB First-Year Player Draft

1. 2B Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.) – Milwaukee Brewers – Competitive Balance Round A (33rd overall) Wright State University

2. RHP Calvin Ziegler (Heidelberg, Ont.) - New York Mets - Round 2 (46th overall) Great Lake Canadians*

3. OF Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) - Oakland A's - Round 4 (127th overall) Cal State Northridge*

4. LHP Mitch Bratt (Newmarket, Ont.) - Texas Rangers - Round 5 (134th overall) Junior National Team/Toronto Mets

5. RHP Eric Cerantola (Oakville, Ont.) - Kansas City Royals - Round 5 (139th overall) Mississippi State*

6. OF Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) - Milwaukee Brewers - Round 7 (207th overall) Southern Illinois

7. RHP Jordan Marks (Brights Grove, Ont.) - Detroit Tigers - Round 8 (225th overall) South Carolina-Upstate

8. C Liam Hicks (Toronto, Ont.) - Texas Rangers - Round 9 (254th overall) Arkansas State

9. RHP Garrett Hawkins (Biggar, Sask.) - San Diego Padres - Round 9 (280th overall) UBC

*Junior National Team alumni