TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State shortstop Deven Marrero was selected 24th overall by the Boston Red Sox in the first round of the MLB draft on Monday.
Marrero, a junior, is the 27th ASU player to be taken in the first round and the school's highest draft pick since Mike Leake was selected eighth overall in 2009. He is the fourth ASU player drafted in the top 25 in the past five seasons, following Leake in '09 along with and Brett Wallace at No. 13 and Ike Davis at No. 18 in 2008.
He is the third ASU player in the past 10 years to be drafted by the Red Sox and joins Dustin Pedroia in the organizaton.
"Whether it's big hits or big plays, Deven's always in the mix when good things happen," Sun Devils coach Tim Esmay said. "Not too often do you get to coach someone like that in your career, and not just from a baseball standpoint. He's a great human being and a great young man."
Marrero, who started 145 games in three seasons at ASU, was the 2011 Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. He also was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection in 2011 and 2012. He set an ASU freshman record with a team-best .397 batting average in 2010 en route to garnering freshman All-America honors, and he had a walk-off single in Game 1 and scored the game-winning run in Game 2 of the 2010 Tempe Super Regional.
Marrero was originally a 17th-round selection (509th overall) of the Cincinnati Reds in the 2009 draft.
