Suwanee's Garvin Drafted by Tampa Bay Rays

SECAUCUS, N.Y. – Suwanee native Grayson Garvin was selected with the 59th pick in this year’s Major League Baseball draft by the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.

Garvin, a junior at Vanderbilt University, played his high school ball at Wesleyan, where he was a two-time Region Player of the Year, an All-American selection and holds the school records for career innings pitched, strikeouts, wins, complete games and career ERA.

He was also drafted in the 45th round by the Houston Astros in 2008, but chose to pitch at Vanderbilt instead. Garvin was also the second Commodore player taken on the first night of the draft, joining teammate Sonny Gray, who went 18th overall to Oakland.

After a strong summer in the Cape Cod League, Garvin was Vanderbilt’s Saturday starter this past season. He set a school record with 13 wins in 16 starts and had an ERA of 2.37.

Garvin, rated as the 56th best prospect and the 16th top left-handed pitcher by Baseball America in the draft, was named second team All-American by Louisville Slugger, first team All-SEC and SEC Pitcher of the Year.

Between the first and compensatory rounds, the Rays selected 10 players on the opening night of the draft.

"Well, it's like I told our guys," Rays scouting director R.J. Harrison said on the team’s website. "We had a couple of mock drafts [Sunday], which ended up being a really good idea just to kind of prepare ourselves. I don't think we did as well in either one of those mock drafts as we did [Monday], to be honest with you. We're really happy with the group of players we selected."

Garvin was not immediately available for comment. He did not attend the draft, which was held at MLB Studios.