Sports

Parkway South's Jake Brentz Waits For MLB Draft Call

The Major League Baseball amateur player draft will begin Thursday night.

Thursday night, the next crop of potential professional baseball players were start to learn where their careers will start as Major League Baseball holds the first two rounds of the amateur player draft. A Parkway South graduate will be among those awaiting a call.

Jake Brentz, a lefthanded pitcher who's rise from a pitcher who threw less than five innings as a Junior for the Parkway South Patriots to now find himself as a high-level pitching prospect has been well chronicled, talked to Patch Wednesday, one day after he and other St. Louis area players had a last chance to impress St. Louis Cardinals executives.

"It was awesome," he said of the experience of getting on the mound at Busch Stadium in front of his favorite team.

But don't confuse his love for the Cardinals as a sign of a draft preference. He professes to not care which team selects him, as long it's the right fit. For teams, the right fit will be a matter of cost. Brentz is prepared for teams to call and essentially ask him if he'll sign for a particular dollar amount. He and his advisors are keeping that dollar amount to themselves.

Brentz has a standing scholarship offer from the University of Missouri, which recruited him as a position player. "If I don't get the right offer, I'll continue to go to Mizzou," he said, where he would play in the field and pitch.

He'll watch the first two rounds of the draft unfold Thursday night with family and friends. Rounds 3-10 will be held Friday, with the remainder set for Saturday.

Brentz ranks as the third best prospect in the state, according to Baseball America.




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