In final five rounds of the draft, the Blue Jays selected two catchers, an infielder, an outfielder and a left-handed pitcher.
Kicking off the last group of five picks was outfielder Lance Jones out of Southern University in Lousiana. The 22-year-old senior transferred to Southern from Bossier City Community College after two years and hit .321/.402/.435 in his junior and senior years combined with 15 doubles, three triples and a home run while stealing 26 bases in 209 at bats. Jones stands 6-foot-1 and hails from Benton, Louisiana.
In the 37th round, the Jays picked up Randy Labaut out of Downey High School in California. The lefthanded pitcher was born and raised in Cuba but played in high school at Downey and has committed to the University of Arizona. There’s not much info on Downey but it’s very likely that he’ll head to college in the fall unless the Blue Jays overpay a fair bit.
The Blue Jays selected a fifth-year senior in Josh Reavis. The 6-foot-2 catcher comes from Radford University in Virginia where he played three years as an everyday player. His career stats stand at a .290/.397/.369 slash line with 26 doubles, two triples and five home runs. The big catcher must have some speed as he stole 11 and 10 bases (respectively) in 2014 and 2015. Named to the 2015 NCAA Tournament All-Regional team this year as well as the Big South All-Tournament Team while also earning Big South’s All-Academic honours. He started his career as a walk-on and eventually became the bullpen catcher before becoming a starter for three years. He earned praise from his college coach for his leadership, work ethic and defensive skills.
A special story to the Blue Jays family, the 39th pick was Mattingly Romanin, a senior infielder out of Chicago State University. Romanin is the son of Mal Romanin, the manager of Baseball Information with the Blue Jays. Mattingly played for four years at Chicago State and posted a very solid slash line of .306/.407/.429 with 41 doubles, eight triples and 11 home runs in 732 at bats, earning Second Team All-Western Athletic Conference honors in his last two seasons. Romanin played early this season with the Guelph Royals of the Intercounty Baseball League before being drafted. Romanin has signed and will be joining the Blue Jays’ organization on a short season team soon.
The Blue Jays’ final draft pick was Robert Lucido, a catcher out of Amherst College in Massachusetts. The interesting thing is that Lucido didn’t play baseball in his senior year at Amherst after not being able to find playing time on the team. He continued to train on his own and was going to sign with the K.C. Royals as a free agent until the MLB Commissioner’s Office vetoed that deal because he was still considered a college athlete. Finally, after the college year ended and Lucido continued training at the Baseball Factory in Maryland, he was drafted in the 40th round by the Blue Jays.
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