Seven Rafters taken in 2019 MLB Draft
For the City Times
WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Seven Wisconsin Rapids Rafters players, past and present, were selected in the 2019 Major League First-Year Player Draft.
Rafters 2017 alum, Bryson Stott, became the highest-drafted Rafter in the team’s 10-year history, when he was picked 14th overall by the Philadelphia Phillies. Stott, a UNLV product and shortstop, holds the Rafters record for at-bats, games played, hits, stolen bases, and runs scored.
TCU junior, and member of the 2017 Rafter team, Jake Guenther was drafted in the seventh round by the Tampa Bay Rays. Guenther was teammates in the infield with Stott on the 2017 team that broke a Northwoods League record for regular-season wins.
Right-handed pitcher Cole Waites, who played in Rapids in 2018 and signed with the Rafters again for 2019, was selected in the 18th round by the San Francisco Giants. Waites is a junior at West Alabama.
The Oakland A’s selected a pair of Rafters in rounds 24 and 25, picking up 2018 Rafters Trayson Kubo and Ty Duvall. Kubo, a right-handed pitcher, appeared in one game as a returner in 2019 for the “Cranberry and Gold.”
Pitcher Nick Avila, a 2017 Rafters alum, was drafted in the 26th round by the San Francisco Giants, joining Cole Waites in the Giants organization. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected pitcher Daniel Ross from the 2018 Rafter team in the 39th round.
The 2019 MLB Draft raised the Rafters all-time total to 59 draft picks in the team’s 10th anniversary season. The Northwoods League saw over 166 current and former players selected in this year’s draft.
