NEW ORLEANS – Tulane’s workhorse starting pitcher Alex Byo – who led the team in wins, innings pitched and starts in 2013 – had his name called in the 33rd round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft when the Arizona Diamondbacks selected him with the 990th overall pick.
Byo – who made a majority of his team-leading 14 starts during his senior season during the second game of weekend series – joins other weekend starters David Napoli (Washington Nationals, eighth round) and Tony Rizzotti (San Diego Padres, 25th round) in the draft. In addition to the three pitchers, seniors Brennan Middleton (Washington Nationals, 10th round) and Garrett Cannizaro (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 18th round) have been drafted so far.
“Alex is another great man from our program from a tremendous family, and I really could not be any happier for him,” said Tulane baseball head coach Rick Jones.
Byo was as reliable as they come on the mound during his senior campaign, where he posted a 6-4 record in 14 starts, totaling 99.0 innings. He struck out 49 while posting an ERA of 2.91.
For his career, the Baton Rouge, La., native was 19-11 with a 3.48 ERA in 41 starts. He pitched a total of 268.2 innings, recording 153 strikeouts and allowing only 104 earned runs. In his junior season, he notched a record of 9-4 in 90.2 innings.
Byo is tied for tenth all-time in school history in games started, and is 16th in school history in allowing an opponent batting average of just .266. His career ERA of 3.48 ranks 17th in the history of the Tulane baseball program.
“This is another example of hard work and dedication paying off,” said Tulane baseball head coach Rick Jones. “Alex had back surgery early in his career, and that is not something you overcome easily. This year, when he was finally 100 percent healthy from start to finish, it showed how quality of a pitcher and competitor he is.”
Byo pitched two complete games during his senior campaign – one against High Point on March 9 and another at UCF on May 10 – for the two lone complete games of his collegiate career. During the 2013 season, Byo did not miss a scheduled start, and had seven outings of 7.0 innings or more. He served as the staff ace during two weeks of the season when Rizzotti suffered an injury towards the end of the season.
The five Tulane players selected this year ties for the second most players drafted out of Tulane in a single season in the history of the Tulane program. In 2009, Josh Prince, Aaron Loup, Josh Zeid, Sam Honeck and Taylor Rogers were all selected. Six players were taken in 2007.
In addition to drafting Byo, the Arizona Diamondbacks –founded in 1998 – have chosen three other Greenies over the course of their short history. Pitcher Sean Morgan was the most recent selection as a fourth round choice in 2007. Micah Owings – who went on to win the Silver Slugger Award as a pitcher for the team – was drafted in the third round in 2005. Jonny Kaplan was the first Greenie ever selected by the franchise when he was a 12th rounder back in 2003.
Byo joins Jackie Snell as the only Tulane selection during the 33rd round of the draft all-time. Snell, a left-handed pitcher, was chosen in that round by the Chicago Cubs during the 1977 draft.
Stay tuned to TulaneGreenWave.com for more draft news regarding the Tulane Green Wave baseball squad.
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