The blue and white produced two draftees on day two of the 2014 Major League Baseball first-year player draft on Friday.
Seton Hall pitcher, Josh Prevost was picked in the fifth round (145th overall) by the New York Mets, and pitcher Jose Lopez was selected in round six (185th overall) by the Cincinnati Reds.
Prevost, a right handed pitcher from Belle Mead, N.J., finished his senior season 12-2 with a 1.62 ERA. During his senior year at the Hall he also piled up a number of accolades including being named the Big East Pitcher of the Year and named to the All-Big East First Team. His twelve wins on the year tied a Seton Hall record.
Beyond the victories, Prevost’s impressive season as the Pirate’s ace included six complete games and 111 strikeouts, both categories in which he led the Big East. He also led the Big East with 116.1 innings pitched, allowing just 20 walks on the year. Batters batted .158 against him this year.
His role as the ace was a major factor in returning to Seton Hall as he told the Setonian in a Feb. 20, 2014 article. “Pitching on Fridays is the reason I came back to school,” Prevost said. “I prepared myself last year to be a starter.”
The 6’8 pitcher who will look to add a shade of orange to his usual blue and white uniform closed out his season with a 1-0 complete game victory over St. John’s in the Big East Championship at MCU Park in Brooklyn, allowing four hits and striking out seven. The Hall would later fall to Creighton and Xavier in the Big East Championship and be eliminated from the Big East Tournament.
Lopez, another right handed pitcher from Cranbury, N.J., was forced to miss the entire 2014 season following Tommy John surgery.
Lopez made 20 appearances in 2013 as a junior going 3-3 with a 3.40 ERA, during that season he struck out 42 while batters averaged .180 opponents batted. As a junior he was named a Big East Academic All-Star.
Prior to his career at the Hall, he played varsity baseball at Hightstown High School in Hightstown, N.J. He also was selected to play in the Mercer County Carpenter Cup. He was honored by the Colonial Valley Conference and Mercer County Athletic Association as the first player to throw three career no-hitters.
For the Mets, the selection of Prevost would be the club’s first pitcher selected after using their prior selections in rounds 1, 3 and 4 on position players including outfielder, Michael Conforto (Round 1, pick 10), short stop, Milton Ramos (Round 3, pick 84) and third-base Eudor Garcia-Pacheco (Round 4, pick 115).
With the selection, New York adds a pitcher that boats great numbers in his first season as an ace. Prevost has also been praised for his control and composure of his pitches and finishing games, something the pitcher showed in his six complete games.
The Reds, who were one of many teams not afraid of selecting a player who missed significant time with injury. Lopez was one of four pitchers selected by the Reds after the midway point of day two of the draft, the club also selected pitchers Nick Howard (Round 1, pick 19), Wyatt Strahan (Round 3, pick 94) and Antone Tejay (Round 5, 155), among others in the draft.
Neal McHale can be reached at neal.mchale@student.shu.edu.
