Parkway South's Danny Holst Selected By Cleveland Indians in MLB Draft

graduate Danny Holst's Tuesday came and went with some pretty good news.

The South High baseball star found out that he had once again made the Suburban West all-conference team -- Holst's fourth such award in four years as a Patriot. 

And this year's honor was particularly special, because he had been voted Conference Player of the Year, after putting up another incredible season, which included a .460 batting average, three home runs, 30 RBIs, a .550 on-base percentage, and a .670 slugging percentage.

"It's an awesome honor," Holst tells Patch. "The Suburban West has a lot of good players. And it's hard work just to compete in that conference. So I feel honored just to be considered."

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 As wonderful as that news was though, it wasn't exactly the news Holst was hoping to hear on Tuesday, which was also Day 2 of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

The first three rounds were conducted on Monday, with many of the absolute best amateur players in the country being selected to one of the 30 Major League teams.

Tuesday was rounds 4-15, and Holst hoped he might hear his name called in one of those rounds, which usually bring with them high signing bonus offers from teams that really want to get their players signed and hopefully on their way to productive professional careers.

But the phone never rang, and Holst's name was never called.

"I was really stressing out," Holst said. "I was watching it some with my mom, and we were both so nervous, we kind of had to turn it off."

On Wednesday though, Holst still wondered if he would indeed be selected, but he didn't have time to check. The recent South High grad had hitting practice to get to, so he just ignored the draft for much of the day.

Then around 2 p.m., South High baseball coach Adam Stahl asked Holst to take a break from hitting and come sit with him to watch the 31st round of the Draft.

"He just had a feeling that was going to be the round," Holst said. "I don't know how he knew. But he just said, 'I've got a feeling this is the round you go.'"

And 15 picks into the 31st round, it happened.

"I just heard them say Cleveland Indians, and then I heard them say my name," Holst said. "It was just really exciting. Me and coach, we both just screamed."

Holst, a baseball nut since he was a little kid, got to see one of his life's dreams finally come true -- he had been drafted by a Major League team.

"It's just such an honor," Holst tells Patch. "To think that there's all these great players all over the country, and somebody out there thinks you're good enough to play in the pros. I just feel honored that they called my name."

Officially, Holst was the 953rd player taken in the draft, and despite stellar pitching numbers throughout his career at South High, the Indians plan to use him as an outfielder, where Holst started for South's Patriots for the past three years.

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Holst's journey to the Major Leagues may be only just beginning though, because he's got a serious decision to make.

The 5'11, 180-pound hitting machine has already signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Texas A&M next season, but if the Indians make a strong enough contract and signing bonus offer, Holst might be swayed into foregoing college and heading straight to professional ball at one of Cleveland's Rookie League teams in Florida and Arizona.

"I really don't think I could make a wrong decision," Holst said. "I loved it at Texas A&M when I visited, and I know I would love playing there. But I love baseball, and I've always wanted to play in the majors, so I feel like that would be a good choice too.

"It's going to depend on what the Indians do. I'm supposed to call them and talk with them tonight (Wednesday) about maybe taking a flight out there."

In the meantime, Holst "celebrated" his incredible news as only he could, not with some lavish party to show off his own personal good fortune.

Instead, Holst spent his Wednesday night watching friends and former teammates of his that play for the Manchester Post 208 American Legion team play a big early-season Legion ball game against the rival club from Eureka.

"We'll probably have a family thing, with all our friends and everybody on the weekend or something, I don't know," Holst said. "But tonight, I just want to go watch my friends play. They have a pretty big game, and I want to show them my support."

Players taken in this year's Draft have until July 13 to sign with the team that picked them.

If they don't sign, they would be ineligible to sign with any other team, but in Holst's case, and other high school players like him, he could simply go on and play in college, but he would then not be eligible for the Draft again until after his third college year.