Bishop Eustace's Anthony Solometo now awaits MLB draft
Recent Bishop Eustace graduate Anthony Solometo a 6-foot-5, 218-pound lefthander, enjoyed a dominating final high school baseball season, one that projects him to be selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. He is ranked as the No. 20 prospect in the country (including college players) by MLB.com The draft is usually in June, but has been pushed back this year to run in conjunction with the MLB All-Star game. This year the draft is July 11-13. A person selected in the first round can sign for life-changing money. According to spotrac.com, the first pick in the draft last year, third baseman Spencer Torkelson, received an $8.4 million bonus from the Detroit Tigers. The 30th pick received $2.3 million. So if Solometo is selected in the first round with one of the first 30 picks, this is the range of singing bonus that was received last year. There were seven competitive balance picks after the first 30 and the lowest bonus went for $1.6 million. So it goes to show that an elite prospect will be offered a high signing bonus in baseball. Solometo also has a scholarship to the University of North Carolina, a great school, but no college can match financially what an MLB team can. In addition, MLB teams also offer college provision, where a certain amount will be set aside for college for that player. With a pitcher there is always the injury factor, which is why many who are selected in the first or even second round, choose to sign. So each time Solometo took the mound, he pitched before scores of scouts and he overmatched teams for the most part. Last week he pitched for the Olympic-Colonial team in the 35th annual Carpenter Cup in Philadelphia. This is a 16-team single-elimination tournament with the best all-star teams from the tri-state area. The Olympic-Colonial consists of players from the Olympic and Colonial Conference, with the exception of the Burlington County schools and Pennsauken. They all compete for the Burlington County franchise. Solometo was the starting pitcher in Friday’s 5-4 quarterfinal loss to Lehigh Valley. Carpenter Cup rules allow a pitcher to throw no more than three innings. In three innings, he allowed four hits and four run (three earned). Solometo did have six strikeouts. I didn’t show my best stuff today, obviously it wasn’t the outcome I wanted,” Solometo said. “I was really counting on pitching again in this tournament.” Had the Olympic-Colonial won, the team would have played on Monday June 21 in a semifinal at Citizens Bank Park. Now Solometo is without another game to pitch in before the draft. “I will go home, reconvene, and think about how I can get better after today and go from there,” Solometo said. He said he will keep his arm active leading up to the draft. “I am going to throw bullpens and for now we will see what happens.” All during the season, Solometo tried not to think much about the draft, although that was never easy. Still, now is the time he can begin thinking of what the next few weeks will offer. “The whole draft thing itself never really felt real to me but now that it is coming around, I am really excited about it,” he said. “Three weeks away my whole life could change, but I still have a chance to play baseball at UNC. I am really excited to see what the future holds.”
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Author: By Marc Narducci
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