Gyorko Goes to X
June 07, 2010 09:38 PM | General
June 8, 2010
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University's Jedd Gyorko has been selected XXX overall in the XXX round by the XXXXX at Monday’s Major League Baseball first-year player draft.
Gyorko’s selection makes him the second-highest pick in Mountaineer baseball history, trailing only Chris Enochs’ 11th overall selection in the 1997 draft by the Oakland Athletics. Gyorko is also the highest pick of any middle infielder in school history, and is just the fourth WVU player from Morgantown to be taken in the draft.
Gyorko finishes his Mountaineer career as the school’s all-time leader in batting average (.404), doubles (73), extra base-hits (113) and is tied for first in home runs (35). The shortstop is WVU’s first career .400 hitter, and is the single-season leader in home runs (19 in 2010 is tied with Mark Landers), doubles (28 in 2009 and 2010), extra-base hits (48 in 2010), walks (43 in 2010), total bases (177 in 2010) and assists (192 in 2010).
The two-time all-BIG EAST first team player holds top-five career marks in several other offensive categories, including base hits (281), RBIs (178), walks (92), runs scored (207) and multiple-hit games (89). He is also on the top-five on the single-season list in base hits (96 in 2009, 95 in 2008), RBIs (63), runs scored (74 in 2009, 71 in 2010) and multiple-hit games (31 in 2009, 30 in 2008).
Gyorko became WVU’s first two-time All-American last season, and has earned All-America honors in all three years after being named to the Louisville Slugger second team last week. He was named a Brooks Wallace Award finalist in 2009, and is a candidate to be named a semi-finalist for the award again this year.
The former BIG EAST Rookie of the Year started all 168 games at second base or shortstop. He walked 92 times to just 75 strikeouts for his career, batted .508 against left-handers, .364 against right-handers, .398 with runners in scoring position, .341 with two outs and .321 with two strikes at WVU.
In his junior season, Gyorko set career marks with 19 home runs, a .750 slugging percentage, 43 walks and 28 doubles. He finished the regular season first in the conference in total bases, slugging percentage and doubles, third in runs scored and walks, tied for third with a school-record 192 assists, fourth in home runs and fifth in base hits.
During the summer of 2009, Gyorko began to catch the attention of professional scouts with his performance at the Cape Cod Baseball League. He played in the Under Armour All-Star Game and participated in the league’s home run derby, both held at Fenway Park.
Gyorko led the Brewster Whitecaps in nearly every offensive category despite missing the team’s first five games due to USA Baseball tryouts. Gyorko batted .323 with five home runs, 18 RBIs, six doubles and 18 runs scored in 34 games played, proving he could compete in the country’s best wooden-bat summer league.
