Former Titusville star Bleday likely to be high pick in MLB draft
If you’re watching the Major League Baseball amateur draft tonight, you might here a familiar name called very early.
Former Titusville standout JJ Bleday, a star for the Vanderbilt Commodores, is not only a projected first round pick, but MLB.com’s latest mock has him going No. 4 overall to the Miami Marlins.
As a freshman and sophomore in high school, Bleday helped lead the Rockets to back-to-back region titles before transferring to A. Crawford Mosley High School in Lynn Haven, Fl, where he helped lead his team to a pair of district titles, earning all-state honors as a senior.
After hitting .368 as a sophomore for Vandy, the outfielder has followed that up with a monster junior season, hitting .354 with 26 home runs, a .468 on-base percentage and a .747 slugging percentage.
Those numbers earned him SEC Player of the Year honors for the Commodores (51-10), who captured both the conference regular season and tournament titles.
A No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, they are one of a handful of serious contenders for the national championship.
Coverage of the draft begins at 6 p.m. on MLB Network and MLB.com with a 1-hour preview show, followed by rounds 1 and 2, beginning at 7 p.m.