Houston County/UGA pitcher Locey goes in third round to St. Louis, Mercer’s Gipson-Long and Veterans’ Holt called (state draft list, Braves list; updated 11 p.m.)
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
As it turned out, Tony Locey’s meeting with his high school teammate on Friday was his final game as a Georgia pitcher.
The Houston County grad was picked Tuesday in the MLB first-year player draft, going in the third round, 96th overall, to St. Louis.
Mercer junior pitcher Sawyer Gipson-Long went in the sixth round to Minnesota, the 179th pick overall.
Veterans grad Gabe Holt, who has been a steady two-year standout at Texas Tech, was taken by Milwaukee in the seventh round, 223rd overall.
Locey will sign, one of the majors’ most storied franchises in one of the nation’s best baseball cities, he told UGASports.com Tuesday. MLB.com ranked Locey 105th overall in the draft, and he went nine spots before that. MLB.com slots that pick value at nearly $605,000.
Georgia Tech’s Tristin English went 93rd overall, to Arizona. Georgia pitcher Tim Elliott was picked by Seattle in the fourth round, 126th overall and much higher than projected.
The draft held the first two rounds on Monday, with rounds 3-10 on Tuesday, and 11-40 on Wednesday.
Locey by the numbers
Year W-L ERA APP/GS Svs IP BB K OppBA WP HBP
2019 11-2 2.53 16-15 0 89 45 97 .168 12 7
2018 7-2 4.28 27-5 0 54.2 30 60 .220 5 13
2017 2-4 6.38 16-8 0 42.1 31 37 .255 10 8
Totals 20-8 3.92 59-28 0 186 104 190 .205 27 28
Locey’s final UGA pitch was a groundout to end the fifth inning of Friday’s 13-3 win over Mercer in the Athens Regional. Locey went five innings, with seven strikeouts, a walk, and three hits allowed on 73 pitches.
Locey went 11-2 as a junior with a 2.53 ERA, 97 strikeouts and 45 walks in 89 innings, with opponents managing a lean .168 average against him.
The hard-throwing right-hander made quality strides in most areas each year at Georgia, where he showed up with potential but inconsistency.
He averaged nearly six innings per start in 2019, and only four times had more walks than strikeouts. One of his losses came in 2.2 innings of relief against Mississippi in the SEC tournament, a 5-3 loss that end the Bulldogs’ stay in Hoover, Ala.
Locey’s role as a weekend starter was defined entering the season, and he moved into the Friday night spot during the season.
He spent his senior year at Houston County, helping the Bears to the GHSA Class 5A state title with Tanner Hall – now at Mercer and on the hill opposite Locey last Friday – and D.L. Hall, who returned to Valdosta for his senior year and was drafted 21st overall in 2017.
Holt earned All-Big 12 honors and led the conference in stolen bases, a year after taking Big 12 freshman of the year honors. Assorted Twitter posts Tuesday night indicated his priority is to sign, although he still has a Super Regional - and, he hopes, more - to go.
Sophomores who are 21 years old are eligible for the draft, and he turned 21 in Jan.. Otherwise, college players must be juniors.
Holt hit .348 last year with six homers, 44 RBI, and 29 stolen bases. He started all 65 games, the first 47 at second base before moving to right field, batting leadoff all year as the Red Raiders reached the College World Series.
This year, he’s at .324 with three homers, 34 RBI, and 28 steals, in eight fewer games. Only once last year and this year did he go two straight games without a hit. Holt has a .337 career average in two seasons, with 174 hits, 78 RBI and 57 steals.
This year, he has played right field and center with a few visits back to the infield, adding extra versatility to his resume.
Gipson-Long led Mercer with 83 innings in 23 appearances, 14 starts. He went 8-4 with a 5.20 ERA, but was among the nation’s leaders in strikeout-to-walk ratio with 99 strikeouts and only 18 walks (5.50). He won two games with 13 innings pitched to help Mercer to the Southern Conference Tournament title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
He was 4-0 in 19 games as a sophomore and 1-1 in 15.1 innings as a freshman.
The 6-4, 220-pounder played for Class 7A Etowah and earned all-state honors, also racking up four letters on the swim team. It’s very much expected he’ll sign, going much earlier than projected.
Georgians through 10 rounds
SS CJ Abrams, Blessed Trinity first round, 6th overall, San Diego
P Daniel Espino, Ga. Prep Acad. first round, 24th, Cleveland
SS Nasim Nunez, Collins Hill second round, 46th, Miami
3B-P Aaron Schunk, Georgia second round, 62nd, Colorado
1B-P Tristin English, Georgia Tech third round, 93rd, Arizona
P Tony Locey, Houston Co./UGA third round, 96th,, St. Louis
P Michael Harris, Stockbridge third round, 98th, Atlanta
P Tim Elliott, Georgia fourth round, 126th, Seattle
C Kyle McCann, Georgia Tech fourth round, 134th, Oakland
P Connor Thomas, Georgia Tech fifth round, 155th, St. Louis
P Hunter Gaddis, Georgia State fifth round, 160th, Cleveland
P Sawyer Gipson-Long, Mercer sixth round, 179th, Minnesota
P Seth Shuman, Georgia Southern sixth round, 194th, Oakland
2B L.J. Talley, Georgia seventh round, 207th, Toronto
P Zxavion Curry, Georgia Tech seventh round, 220th, Cleveland
OF-IF Gabe Holt, Veterans/Tx.Tech seventh round, 223rd, Milwaukee
Atlanta Braves picks through 10 rounds
C Shea Langeliers, Baylor first round, 9th overall
SS Braden Shewmake, Texas A&M first round, 21st
SS Beau Philip, Oregon State second round, 60th
P Michael Harris, Stockbridge third round, 98th
P KaseyKalich, Texas A&M fourth round, 127th
CF Stephen Paolini, St. Jos. HS (Conn.) fifth round, 157th
P Tanner Gordon, Indiana sixth round, 187th
P Darius Vines, CSU-Bakersfield seventh round, 217th
P Ricky DeVito, Seton Hall eighth round, 247th
2B Cody Milligan, Cowley Co. CC ninth round, 277th
RF Brandon Parker, Miss. Gulf Coast 10th round, 307th