Tuesday, June 07, 2005



Great Bridge player goes first in baseball draft.


Juston Upton, who is  from my alma mater, Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Virginia, was picked first in the Major League Baseball draft today.

He is the brother of BJ Upton, who was picked second by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 2002 draft.

According to the Baseball America Draft-Day Blog,  BJ was at Great Bridge for the moment:

At 12:20 edt, Justin Upton's brother B.J. arrived at Great Bridge High in his hometwon of Chesapeake where Justin awaited the start of the draft. B.J., who played a Monday afternoon game in Ottawa with the Triple-A Durham Bulls, had to book his own flight to Norfolk this morning. The Bulls, who open a series against the Norfolk Tides tonight in Norfolk, were delayed, though B.J. was determined to be alongside his brother when Justin's name is called today.

Upton is the third player from Great Bridge High to be drafted in the first round of the draft.  In 1997, Micheal Cuddyer and John Curtice were drafted ninth and seventeenth  by the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox, respectively.  Cuddyer was in calculus class at the moment  he was drafted.  

I am currently listening to the draft via XM Radio and it is certainly different from the NFL draft, which has a maximum fifteen minute gap between picks in the first through third rounds.  In the MLB draft there is a mere thirty seconds between picks in the first three rounds (and 'no' time between picks after that).




Jackpotzrebie comment []1:18:22 PM   trackback []