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Ames and Van Winkle Elect To Sign Professional Contracts
July 2, 2009
SPOKANE, Wash. - Steven Ames and Tyson Van Winkle of Gonzaga University have both chosen to forgo their senior seasons and sign professional contracts after being selected in last month's Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. The Bulldogs had a school-best five players drafted this year, bumping the programs all-time total number of players to be drafted to 56, including the 28 players who have been drafted during head coach Mark Machtolf's 19-year tenure at Gonzaga. The 2009 Bulldog draft class is led by Van Winkle who went in the 10th round to the Arizona Diamondbacks and has been placed on the Yakima Bears in the Class A Short-Season Northwest League. Ames, taken in the 17th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers has been sent to Ogden, Utah to play for the Ogden Raptors of the Rookie Pioneer League. "We are very proud of both Tyson and Steven," said Machtolf. "They played huge roles for us during our championship run (WCC Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance) this season and we wish them well as they start a new chapter in their baseball careers." Van Winkle, the 306th overall pick, enjoyed a breakout season for the Zags this year after choosing to return to Gonzaga after being drafted in the 39th round by the Houston Astros last year. The redshirt junior catcher earned All-West Coast Conference honors this season after leading the conference and setting a new school single-season record with 27 doubles. The Vancouver, Wash. native also posted team-highs in batting average (.362), hits (84) and in slugging (.543) all while starting all 54 games behind the plate this season. Van Winkle also slugged five home runs, recorded 26 multi-hit games, had a team-best 19 multi-RBI games and drove in 61 RBI to record the eighth highest single season total in GU history.
Ames, the 517th overall selection, became the first Gonzaga pitcher drafted since Clayton Mortensen was a Compensation "A" first round pick in 2007. Ames earned All-West Coast Conference honorable mention honors after posting an 8-2 record and firing a team-high three complete games. The junior right-hander led the Zags in innings (96.2) and was second in strikeouts (70). Ames moved into the weekend rotation a couple weeks into the season before ending the season as the team's number two pitcher, posting notable wins against #21 University of San Diego and Santa Clara University along the way, both with complete game efforts. The Vancouver, Wash. native picked up two wins over Loyola Marymount University on consecutive weeks as the first win clinched the WCC regular season title and the second came in the game two clinching win of the WCC Championship Series to earn a NCAA Tournament automatic berth for the Zags. Ames then went on to strikeout four in seven innings of work against number two national seed Cal State Fullerton in the NCAA Tournament. Other Zags taken in the draft were Matt Fields, who went in the 22nd round to the Toronto Blue Jays and has been sent to play for the Blue Jays rookie league team in the Golf Coast League. Ryan Wiegand was drafted in the 25th round by the Tampa Bay Rays and has been sent to play for the Princeton Rays in the Rookie Appalachian League in Princeton, W.V. AJ Proszek was the final Bulldog drafted, going to the San Francisco Giants in the 38th round and is currently playing for the Giants' Rookie Arizona League team. Other notable drafter selections were Jacob Partridge, a left-handed pitcher out of John R. Rogers High School in Spokane, Wash., who had signed a National Letter of Intent with the Bulldogs, was drafted in the 19th round by Tampa Bay and has elected to sign a professional contract. One other incoming player taken in the MLB draft was Jordan Yallen, an infielder out of Calabasas, Calif., who was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 47th round but has decided to come to Spokane and play for the Zags. |
