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June 14, 2020                                                                                      President & General Manager

                                                                              401-845-6832// gm@newportgulls.com

MLB 2020 Draft Recap

Showcasing Gulls Alumni

Published By: Carley Bauckham & Sydney LaPointe- Public Relations 

Published On: June 14, 2020 

NEWPORT, RI- The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft concluded on Thursday evening and saw five Newport Gulls selected; Hudson Haskin (2019 Gull), Holden Powell (2018 Gull), Jake Eder (2018 Gull), and Jack Blomgren (2018 Gull), Zach Britton (2018 Gull). The number of Gulls drafted is significantly less compared to the perennial average of roughly 15 due to the decrease in the total number of rounds- normally 40 to this year's five. OF Hudson Haskin was selected 39th Overall by the Baltimore Orioles, RHP Holden Powell was selected 94th Overall by the 2019 World Series Champion Washington Nationals, LHP Jake Eder was selected 104th Overall by the Miami Marlins, C/OF Zach Britton was selected 136th Overall by the Toronto Blue Jays, and SS Jack Blomgren was selected 140th Overall by the Colorado Rockies. 

Hudson Haskin was the first Gull to hear his name called when the Baltimore Orioles selected this right hand hitting outfielder from Tulane University with their third pick in the draft. Haskins was a vital member of the Newport Gulls season in 2019, logging 41 hits over 32 games and finishing the season with a batting average of .306. Haskins was one of seven players with ties to schools from Louisiana chosen Thursday night to finish off the five-round 2020 MLB Draft and the first player taken from the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Now two years in a row has a former Gulls from Tulane been the first player taken from the AAC- 2018 Gull Kody Hoese in the 2019 Draft 25th Overall. In 2017,  Andrew Daschbach of Stanford University and the 2017 Newport Gulls was also drafted by the Orioles in the 10th Round of the 2019 MLB Draft.

Holden Powell, a RHP from Visalia, CA, was the second Gull taken off the board as he will be headed to the Washington Nationals. A dominant relief pitcher in college, Powell served as a starting pitcher that was crucial to the Newport Gulls 2018 season. Known for his mid 90s fastball, the former Bruin struck out 40 batters in 26 innings pitched for the Gulls. The Washington Nationals selected Powell in the 3rd Round, 94th Overall. Kevin Strohschein (Tennessee Tech), a 2016 Gulls was also selected by the Washington Nationals in the 2019 MLB Draft. 

Jake Eder will join his former Vanderbilt teammate and fellow Gulls Alumni JJ Bleday as he was selected by the Miami Marlins in Round 4 of this year’s draft. Jake played with the Gulls in 2018 and was a staple in the team’s starting rotation. The Florida native and Vanderbilt Commodore struck out 34 batters in 25 innings pitched, while surrendering just 13 earned runs for the Gulls. The Miami Marlins selected the southpaw with the 104th Overall Pick and Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin was quoted on the MLB Network Broadcast as saying “the fastball is going to be hard, into the mid-90s and plays with a lot of spin” which is central for a successful career ahead. In addition to JJ Bleday, Eder will be joining Kameron Misner (#35 Overall in 2019) and Colton Hock (#119 Overall in 2017) as former Gulls selected by the Marlins in recent years.

Batesville, IN native Zach Britton was taken by the Toronto Blue Jays as the fourth Gull picked in the 2020 MLB Draft. He was one of three players to start all 17 games for Louisville during the 2020 college season and is deemed a plus hitter by scouts. On Thursday night, Zach was selected in the 5th Round, 136th overall. A member of the 2018 Newport Gulls, Britton was extremely grateful to be taken in this year’s draft and told Sports Illustrated, “Man, I feel really good about it.” He joined the Gulls in the summer of 2018 with fellow Cardinals teammate, LHP Gavin Sullivan, and ended the season with an average of .361. The Toronto Blue Jays selected another Gull, Jake Brodt (Santa Clara) in the 2018 Draft. 

Lastly, Jack Blomgren, a late addition to the 2018 Newport Gulls was the fifth and final Gulls alumni taken in this year's draft. Blomgrem was not a highly toughted recruit out of high school but earned a starting role with the Michigan Wolverines and did not look back. As a sophmore, Blomgren helped lead the Wolverines to the College World Series Championship where his team eventually fell to Jake Eder's Vanderbilt Commodores. Scouts certainly took notice of Blomgren as his CWS performance landed him on the All-Tournument Team after hitting .360 in postseason play. He will join 2017 Newport Gull Cameron Enck (Maryland) in the Colorado Rockies system as Enck was picked in the 2019 Draft. 

The Gulls are extremely proud to see their alumni take the next step towards becoming major leaguers. As a result of the shortened draft, the Gulls expected additional alumni to sign free agent contracts with teams prior to the MLB season starting up again. 

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The Newport Gulls, members of the 13-team New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded as the Rhode Island Gulls in 1998 in Cranston, R.I., before moving to Newport in 2001. In addition to recruiting, fielding, and developing a team of the nation’s top collegiate baseball athletes and attracting 50,000 fans annually to Cardines Field, the predominantly volunteer organization strives to benefit the community of Newport County via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations – totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are six-time champions of the NECBL – the winningest franchise in league history – and were ranked as the overall No. 1 summer collegiate baseball team in the country by Perfect Game USA in 2012.

For more information about the Newport Gulls, visit facebook.com/newportgulls, follow the Gulls on Twitter @NewportGulls or visit www.newportgulls.com.

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