More Than 100 Cape League Alumni Selected In First Two Days Of MLB Draft

In what has become an annual tradition, the Major League Baseball Draft once again proved to be a who’s who of former Cape Cod Baseball League players, as 114 Cape League alumni were selected during the 10 rounds held over the first two days of the draft.

For the sixth time in the past seven years, a Cape alum was taken first overall when the Cleveland Guardians selected Travis Bazzana, a 2023 Falmouth Commodore from Oregon State. The first round featured a record-breaking 15 players who appeared in the Cape League; Falmouth led the way with five picks, followed by three former Chatham Anglers.

Shortstop JJ Wetherholt, a former West Virginia University standout who played for Chatham last summer, was taken seventh overall by the St. Louis Cardinals. His Angler teammates Carson Benge (Oklahoma State) and Brody Becht (Iowa) were both first-round selections to the New York Mets at No. 19 and the Colorado Rockies at No. 38, respectively.

Harwich alum Seaver King (Wake Forest) was taken by the Washington Nationals with pick No. 10, while another former Mariner from Kansas State, Kaelan Culpepper, was picked No. 21 by the Minnesota Twins.

James Tibbs III, a hard-hitting Florida State alum who played for Brewster last summer and captured the Cape’s 2023 Home Run Derby title, was selected No. 13 by the San Francisco Giants.

Khadim Diaw (Loyola Marymount) became the first former Orleans player off the board after being a third-round pick by the Twins at No. 96. Diaw played for the Firebirds last summer with Austin Overn, a University of Southern California alum who returned to the Cape with Chatham this summer before being a third-round selection by the Baltimore Orioles with the 97th overall pick.

Other notable draft selections included former Firebirds and WVU star pitcher Derek Clark (LA Angels, Round 9, No. 262 overall) and Harvard righthander Sean Matson (Cleveland, Round 9, No. 265 overall). Clark and Matson helped Orleans earn last year’s East Division title to advance to the Cape League championship, and Matson returned to be the Firebirds’ closer this summer.

The draft finished with rounds 11-20 on Tuesday after The Chronicle’s deadline. Visit MLB.com for a complete list of the draft results.