Four Wolverines Selected on Day Two of Major League Baseball Draft
6/11/2020 10:44:00 PM | Baseball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan pitcher Jeff Criswell, outfielders Jordan Nwogu and Jesse Franklin, and shortstop Jack Blomgren were selected during the second and final day of the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft on Thursday (June 11). It marked the first time since 1968 that the Wolverines had four players taken in the first five rounds of the first-year draft.
Criswell was selected in the second round by the Oakland Athletics as the 58th overall pick, while Nwogu was taken in the third round (88th overall) by the Chicago Cubs. Franklin also was chosen in the third round, by the Atlanta Braves (97th overall), and Blomgren went in the fifth round (140th overall) to the Colorado Rockies.
Michigan has now had at least one player taken in the MLB Draft in each of the last eight years under head coach Erik Bakich. Criswell becomes the highest Michigan draft pick in the Bakich era and highest since David Parrish was the No. 28 overall pick by the New York Yankees in 2000.
A native of Portage, Michigan, Criswell appeared in 50 games over three seasons in the maize and blue. The righty tossed 162.1 innings, recording 174 strikeouts while compiling 10 wins and three saves. The 2020 ace was an integral part of the 2019 run to the College World Series, finishing as an All-Big Ten Conference first team selection.
Nwogu capped off his U-M baseball career by leading the Wolverines in his final season in batting average (.353), hits (24), home runs (two) and OPS (.845) in just 15 games due to the remainder of the 2020 schedule being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the course of his three-year career, the Ann Arbor native hit .334, slugged 20 home runs, scored 97 runs, had 23 doubles, stole 30 bases, and held an on-base percentage of .430 and an OPS of .975. Nwogu was an American Baseball Coaches Association All-America second team member as a designated hitter in 2019 and earned All-Big Ten first team selection while serving as the leadoff man on the College World Series runner-up.
Franklin is just the fourth Michigan player selected by the Braves organization in the 55-year history of the Major League Baseball draft.
He did not see action in the 2020 season due to injury but was a key part of the Wolverines' lineup during his first two seasons in Ann Arbor. The Seattle, Washington, native was a stalwart in the middle of the order, owning a career batting average of .287 with 23 home runs and 26 doubles while driving in 102 runs and scoring 92.
Blomgren, a native of Milton, Wisconsin, started 137 of a possible 141 games during his three-year tenure with the Maize and Blue, playing each game as the Michigan shortstop. He posted a career batting average of .276, highlighted by a .314 campaign during Michigan's 2019 run to the College World Series final. Blomgren reached base at a .399 clip for his career, had 72 runs scored and 71 runs batted in, and stole 18 bases.
The 2020 MLB Draft was shortened to five rounds over two days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
