Six more USC baseball players were selected on the final day of the 2015 MLB Draft, adding on to the two that were selected on Tuesday. These eight picks are the most USC players drafted since 1998.
Junior LHP Kyle Twomey heard his name first on Wednesday in the 13th round when the Chicago Cubs selected him, followed by junior RHP Brent Wheatley in the 17th round by the Oakland Athletics. Those two juniors were followed by senior second baseman Dante Flores in the 18th round by the Chicago White Sox and OF Bobby Stahel in the 20th round by the Colorado Rockies. Finishing off the day for USC, junior RHP Kyle Davis was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 29th round and shortstop Angelo La Bruna was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 33rd round.
Junior LHP Kyle Twomey heard his name first on Wednesday in the 13th round when the Chicago Cubs selected him, followed by junior RHP Brent Wheatley in the 17th round by the Oakland Athletics. Those two juniors were followed by senior second baseman Dante Flores in the 18th round by the Chicago White Sox and OF Bobby Stahel in the 20th round by the Colorado Rockies. Finishing off the day for USC, junior RHP Kyle Davis was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 29th round and shortstop Angelo La Bruna was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 33rd round.
LHP Kyle Twomey returned as the go-to Saturday starter for USC during his junior campaign despite serving as a relief pitcher for most of his sophomore season. He led the team with a 2.88 ERA and pitched more innings (93.2) than any other starter, finishing with an 8-2 record in 16 starts. This dominant performance earned the junior All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors.
Senior second baseman Dante Flores, along with catcher Garrett Stubbs, who was drafted yesterday in the eighth round by the Houston Astros, truly turned this USC baseball program around. Flores finished his career as a four-year starter batting .304, the third highest on the team behind Stahel and Stubbs. This effort earned him honorable mention honors for the All-Pac-12 team like Twomey.
RHP Brent Wheatley started off as the Friday starter for USC in his junior season but found greater success coming out of the bullpen when the Trojans really needed his arm. Wheatley finished the year with a 4.50 ERA in 70 innings pitched with a 4-4 record appearing in 17 games and starting nine.
RHP Kyle Davis did the complete opposite rotation of Wheatley, starting out as a relief pitcher for the Trojans but then closed out the last four Fridays of his junior campaign as the starting pitcher. The start of the season was plagued with injury, but Davis finished strong with a 3-3 record in 20 games (five starts). He posted a 4.05 ERA in 53.1 innings, but his most notable performance came at the end of the season against Virginia in the opening round of the NCAA Regional in which he had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning.
Redshirt junior OF Bobby Stahel skyrocketed in terms of production value during his redshirt junior season leading the team in batting average (.376) and RBIs (33). His .376 batting average also ranked him 26th nationally. Stahel was also a human highlight reel in left field for the Trojans demonstrating his athleticism to make unbelievable, diving catches, most notably the one against UC Santa Barbara that landed him the No. 1 spot on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays. Topping off his impressive 2015 season, Stahel is a semifinalist for the Gregg Olson Award which goes to the nation's best breakout player, and he was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team and the ABCA All-West Region First Team.
Redshirt senior Angelo La Bruna capped off one of the Trojans' best drafts after being selected in the 33rd round. The Duke University transfer started 22 games for the Trojans and appeared in 39, tallying only six errors all season. La Bruna was just as good in the classroom as he was on the field earning him Pac-12 All-Academic Second Team honors at the end of this year.
