NWAACC Players Fill 2005 MLB Draft

Josh Novy

Sports Editor

The Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges’ (NWAACC) was well represented in the 2005 Major League Baseball Amature Player Draf held June 7-8.

In total, 24 NWAACC players were drafted in the 50 round of the MLB draft, including nine players from the Northern Division.

Three Everett Community College players, Zach Simons, Aaron Cunningham, and J.T. Zink were selected in the top eight rounds of the draft.

Simons, who was chosen as the NWAACC Most Valuable Player, was drafted in the second round by the Colorado Rockies with the 55th pick in the draft. Simons hit .409 for the season and was 5-0 with a miniscule 1.08 ERA pitching this season.

Cunningham, who led the entire NWAACC in hitting with a .465 batting average, was a sixth round selection by the Chicago White Sox.

Zink was an eighth round pick by the Boston Redsox.

Edmonds Community College players Brady Everett, A.J. Huttenlocker, Harrison Bishop, and Tony Snow joined Bellevue Community College players Brent Thomas and Craig Johnson as the other Northern Division players drafted.

Overall, the NWAACC Tournament Champions, Lower Columbia Community College led all NWAACC schools with seven players selected in the draft.

D.J. Lidyard, Kyle Foster, Dane Renkert, Colby Wark, Kyle Beitey, Drew George, and Broc Coffman were all Lower Columbia players that were chosen in the draft.

With such a strong showing in the draft, it is easy to see why the NWAACC is reguarded as one of the top conferences in Junior College baseball.

“The high number of players taken in the draft just goes to show what a talented and tough conference the NWAACC is,” SCC Head Baseball Coach Steve Seki said. “It’s clearly one of the most talented confereces you’ll find in community college baseball.”

In the rest of the draft there were a few big selections and surprises.

With the No. 1 pick in the draft, the Arizona Diamondbacks selected high school super-star shortstop Justin Upton from Chesapeake Virginia.

Upton has exceptional power and speed. He set the record in the 60-yard dash at a Perfect Game showcase with a time of 6.23-seconds, which was the fastest in the history of the scouting service. He definitely has the potential to be a big-time major league star.

The Mariners because of their terrible 2004 season (63-99) owned the No. 3 pick in the draft. They used the pick to select University of Southern California catcher Jeff Clement.

Clement is a left-handed hitting catcher with tremendous power. Many scouts have projected him as a 30-40 homerun type of player. He is said to be the most major-league ready player among the player picked in the draft, which is a big reason why the Mariners took him as they desperately need power from the catcher position.

One of the surprises of the draft on the local level involved t University Washington shortstop Brent Lillibridge. Lillibridge who is third on the Huskies all-time homerun list and a two-time all-american, was selected with the 11th pick in the fourth round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He was expected by many to go much higher in the draft, and now will most likely return to Washington for his senior season.

With all of the talant and skills that are present in the MLB draft it is clear that by the number of players selected, the NWAACC is right near the top when it comes to baseball talent and player developement.