Orange Coast College

Baseball: Five current, former Pirates picked in MLB Draft

Thursday, June 11, 2009

COSTA MESA -- In addition to third-round selection Brett Wallach, another current Orange Coast College baseball player and a pair of former Pirates have been selected in this year's Major League Baseball Draft.

Sophomore third baseman Drew Hillman (pictured right) was picked in the 38th round (1,159th overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays. Hillman was a two-time All-Orange Empire Conference, All-Southern California and All-American for the Pirates. Last year, he batted .363 and led the team with 11 home runs and 53 RBI, leading Coast to its first state championship since 1980.

Freshman teammate Mykal Stokes was picked in the 46th round by the San Diego Padres. A speedy outfielder with power to all fields, Stokes batted .340 with three home runs and 35 RBI.

Former Coast player Eric Oliver, who moved on to play at UC Santa Barbara for the past two seasons, was selected in the 36th round (1,101 overall) by the Los Angeles Angels. Oliver, who batted .354 with six home runs and 41 RBI as a sophomore for Coast, batted .325 for the Gauchos with six home runs and 48 RBI this past season.

Another former Pirate, Daniel Cooper, was selected in the 21st round (623rd overall) by the Seattle Mariners after spending the previous season at USC, where he went 1-2 with three saves and a 2.08 ERA. At Coast, Cooper played on the 2005 State Final Four team and went 7-2 with two saves and a 2.47 ERA.

Joining the alumni draft club is right-hander Ryan Shopshire, who moved on from OCC and played for San Jose State, where he went 6-1 with two saves, 69 strikeouts and a 4.08 ERA for the Spartans last year.

Also, J.J. Altobelli, the son of head baseball coach John Altobelli, was selected in the 49th round by the Milwaukee Brewers. J.J., who finished up his prep career at Woodbridge in 2009 will attend the University of Oregon in the fall.