Hess Taken by Tigers, Pickens by Indians in MLB Draft
6/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Two players from the University of Michigan baseball team were selected on day two of the 2007 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft this afternoon (Friday, June 8). The Detroit Tigers took senior RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central), while the Cleveland Indians selected junior C/RF/2B Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Birmingham Brother Rice).
Hess, who carries a 7-2 record and a 4.52 earned run average into this weekend's NCAA Super Regional at Oregon State, was tabbed by the Tigers with the 27th pick of the 19th round (601st overall). The senior hurler was named to the All-Big Ten third team this season following a 5-1 conference campaign that featured a complete-game five-hitter against Purdue.
Pickens was selected by the Indians for the second time in his career, as the Indians used the 12th pick of the 50th and final round to take Pickens 1,444th overall. Pickens, who was drafted by Cleveland as a high school senior catcher after earning Mr. Baseball honors for the state of Michigan, has a .347 average, five home runs and 41 runs batted in heading into the weekend. The multi-positional slugger joined Hess on the All-Big Ten third team as an outfielder.
Hess' selection marks the 12th consecutive season that Michigan head coach Rich Maloney has had a pitcher selected in the draft. Since Maloney's first season at U-M in 2003, six Wolverine pitchers have been drafted a total of nine times.
MLB.com 2007 Draft Central
U-M Draft History
Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
