GSAC sends 9 players into pro baseball

The Golden State Athletic Conference proved once again to be one of the elite National Association of Intercollegiate Athletic conferences, representing nine of the 46 players selected in the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft — the most of any NAIA conference. Two of those nine represented Biola, and they have already begun the arduous process of progressing in their respective minor league systems.

Two Biola pitchers sign with major league clubs

RHP Cameron McVey was selected in the 22nd round, 687th overall by the world champion San Francisco Giants. The Minnesota Twins selected another arm out of Biola’s solid pitching staff, RHP Bobby O’Neill, in the 43rd round.

“The draft process was intense,” McVey explained. “Waiting around, listening to the players get chosen was suspenseful.”

McVey earned GSAC Closer of the Year honors for his standout season-finishing games for Biola. He dominated opposing hitters, holding them to a .181 batting average and striking out 39 batters in 32 innings. His 14 saves were tops in the GSAC by seven and third in the entire NAIA.

Before signing with the Giants, McVey’s professional career began this summer in Alaska, where he traveled to the small town of Kenai to play for the Peninsula Oilers in their summer league.

“I waited and went to Alaska to play summer baseball to help build negotiations and receive a higher payment then what was offered,” McVey said. “I then signed on August 15, which is the last day to sign a professional contract.”

His contract with the Giants was actually signed later than the deadline, preventing him from playing in the Arizona leagues with the Giants this season. This means he will begin play for the Giants in 2012 instead of participating in the Fall Instructional League — which McVey describes as a good thing.

“We now will return to the instructional league in two weeks and stay up there in Arizona for four weeks,” McVey said. “It is a good thing to get chosen to instructional league. And now my journey continues in two weeks.”

O’Neill took a different route than his former teammate. Signing a contract with the Twins only a few days after being selected, he was en route to Florida a mere four days after the conclusion of the draft.

“I was never really given an opportunity for everything to sink in,” O’Neill said. “One day I am sitting in the living room with my family listening to the draft, and four days later I am sitting on a plane bound for a state I had always associated with alligators. It all happened extremely fast.”

He made his professional debut on June 23 with the Gulf Coast League Twins, the organization’s short-season rookie ball club, where he gave up 2 earned runs and struck out 3 over 3.2 innings as the starting pitcher. Though being tagged for the loss in that game, O’Neill finished the 60-game season with a 3-3 record and a 2.27 ERA over 11 games, 10 as a starting pitcher.

“It has been an amazing experience thus far,” O’Neill said. “I feel really blessed that God has given me the opportunity to continue playing the sport I love.”

Baseball draft represented by entire GSAC

Among McVey and O’Neill, seven other GSAC players were chosen over the three day draft process. Chosen first out of the nine was Fresno Pacific University starting RHP Jesse Darrah. Taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth round, Darrah put up dominating numbers his sophomore season, going 7-1 and posting an impressive ERA of 2.44 over 88 and 2/3 innings pitched. His 101 strikeouts broke the FPU school record and ranked him 14th in the NAIA.

California Baptist led the GSAC in representation, sending four players to minor league systems. Pitchers Andrew Midrigal and Taylor Siemens, along with shortstop Brian Sharp and catcher Sharif Othman were selected from CBU. Rounding out the GSAC representatives were catcher John Hilland first-baseman Brian Nicholson from Concordia University in Irvine.