Virginia Baseball Has Eight Ties To 2005 MLB Draft

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball program had eight players/signees selected in the 2005 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft on June 7-8. Four members of the 2005 Virginia baseball team (Ryan Zimmerman, Matt Avery, Jeff Kamrath and Mike Ballard) and four UVa signees (David Adams, Shooter Hunt, Brett Summers and Jeremy Farrell) were chosen in the 2005 MLB Draft. Virginia’s group of Zimmerman, Avery and Kamrath went on the first day of the draft (June 7th) while Ballard and a quartet of UVa’s signees went on day two of the event (June 8th).

Zimmerman became the highest Cavalier ever drafted in Virginia baseball history when the Washington Nationals made him their first ever first round draft pick with the fourth overall selection in the draft. Zimmerman joins the likes of Seth Greisinger and Brian Buchanan as the only UVa baseball players drafted in the first round of the MLB Draft. Zimmerman was joined in the opening rounds of the MLB Draft by teammates Avery and Kamrath. Avery was drafted in the ninth round as the 280th overall pick by the Chicago Cubs and Kamrath was picked in the 11th round as the 328th overall choice by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Four UVa signees were drafted on day two of the MLB Draft, beginning with Adams who was selected in the 21st round as the 630th overall pick by the Detroit Tigers. Adams was followed by Hunt who was the 1,029th pick in the 34th round by the Texas Rangers, Summers who was made the 1,099th pick in the 36th round by the New York Yankees and Farrell who was selected as the 1,225th pick in the 41st round by the Colorado Rockies. Ballard was also drafted in the 47th round as the 1,415 pick by the Minnesota Twins.

Here is a look at this year’s list of UVa players/signees who were picked in the 2005 MLB Draft:

Round/Pick	Name				Position	Affiliation		MLB Team1st/4th	Ryan Zimmerman		3B		Third-Year		Washington Nationals9th/280	Matt Avery			RHP		Third-Year		Chicago Cubs11th/328	Jeff Kamrath			RHP		Fifth-Year		Tampa Bay Devil Rays21st/630	David Adams		SS		Signee			Detroit Tigers34th/1,029	Shooter Hunt			RHP		Signee			Texas Rangers36th/1,099	Brett Summers		RHP		Signee			New York Yankees41st/1,225	Jeremy Farrell		3B		Signee			Colorado Rockies47th/1,415	Mike Ballard			LHP		Third-Year		Minnesota Twins,

— UVa —