Inside The Huskies

Husky Pitcher Emanuels, Incoming Lefty MacLean Taken in Shortened Draft

The two University of Washington players were among the 160 selections in the abbreviated MLB draft. Just five rounds were held instead of 40.

Dan Raley

Pitchers Stevie Emanuels and Dylan MacLean, the former a University of Washington junior and the latter an incoming Husky recruit from Oregon, had their names called on Thursday night in the latter half of the abbreviated Major League Baseball Draft.

Emanuels, a 6-foot-5, 210-pounder converted from closer to starter, went 157th in the fifth round to the Oakland A's -- just three picks from the end of the collective talent dispersal.

The 6-3, 180-pound MacLean, a lefty and just 17, was picked up 115th in the fourth round by the Texas Rangers.

Stevie Emanuels worries what a decrease in minor-league baseball teams will do to baseball prospects such as him.
Stevie Emanuels went to Oakland with 157th pick.  / Mollie Handkins photo

The draft, because of the ongoing pandemic, was shortened to only 160 players, down from the more than 1,000 typically selected over 40 rounds.

"I really see myself developing into a Major League starter," said Emanuels, whose fastball tops out at 95-96. "My body is not completely filled out. I think there's more in the tank there. My ideal weight would be 225."

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Emanuels, 21, compiled a 3-1 record and 0.79 earned run average for the Huskies this spring, striking out 38 batters in 22.2 innings. 

The season before, he was 2-3 with a 2.36 ERA as a closer, picking up 6 saves in 31 outings. He came to the UW from Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington. 

Emanuels ranked 163rd by MLB.com, just outside the draft range, but he closely matched his projected position as much as anyone in the later rounds. He has five pitches.

MacLean was taken considerably higher than the MLB.com ranking of 195 that he carried into the draft. The Rangers apparently were impressed with his workout videos that showed him increasing his velocity to 92 miles per hour from the mid-80s. 

His senior season at Portland's Jesuit High School was cancelled by the coronavirus pandemic, limiting his exposure to the pros this spring.

MacLean falls into a designated $502,300 earnings slot, but it might take Texas more to sign him and lure him away from the Huskies and the college game, according to draft an.

His development is at stake. Minor-league baseball has been shut down this summer and faces the loss of several franchises.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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