MLB draft call: Sacramento-area players Robert Gasser, Ryan Holgate go back-to-back
Power at the plate and command on the mound made Robert Gasser and Ryan Holgate college prospects while in high school and then even more so as dominating figures as juniors in college this spring.
Both locally raised stars were selected Monday in the Competitive Balance B round of the 2021 Major League Baseball draft. This round comes between rounds 2 and 3.
A power-hitting, left-handed outfielder out of Davis High School and the University of Arizona, Holgate went 70th overall to the St. Louis Cardinals. One pick later, the San Diego Padres picked Gasser, a left-handed pitcher from Oak Ridge and the University of Houston.
The “slot value” for signing bonuses for players in 70th pick is $907,000.
At 6-foot-1, Gasser earned six wins this spring with 2.60 ERA. He struck out 105 in 85.2 innings, striking out 10 or more five times as a junior.
He was a three-year letterman at Oak Ridge who went 14-0 at Delta College in Stockton in 2018 in earning national pitcher of the year honors.
Holgate was a Bee All-Metro slugger at Davis who kept on swinging at Arizona. He belted 11 home runs with a .351 average and 56 RBI this spring, and he hammered three home runs in the postseason.
For his three-year Arizona career, the 6-foot-2 Holgate had 19 home runs and 101 RBI.
Two Sacramento State pitchers were also selected Monday, with Travis Adams going in the sixth round, 189th overall, to the Minnesota Twins and Scott Randall going in the seventh round, 198th overall, to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Also going in the seventh round: Ryan Costeiu of Arkansas by way of Sacramento City College. He went 201st overall to the Los Angeles Angels.
Darren Baker of Jesuit and Cal roots was selected in the 10th round by the Washington Nationals. The second baseman is the son of Dusty Baker, the Sacramento-raised star who played in the big leagues and coached and managed at the highest level, including his current stint as the Houston Astros manager.
On Tuesday, the final day of the draft, three more players with area ties were selected, each of them pitchers.
Trent Denholm of Oak Ridge and UC Irvine went in the 14th round to the Cleveland Indians, Dennis Boatman of Woodcreek and Sac City was picked in the 17th round by the Reds, and Gabe Emmett of Vista del Lago and Folsom Lake College was tabbed in the 19th round by the Dodgers.
The draft ended after 20 rounds. The first amateur draft was held in 1965, and it went 72 rounds. By 2005, the draft went 50 rounds and by 2017 it was 40.
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 1:45 PM.