Three 2016 Florida State signees taken in the first round of the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft will have a decision to make — the minor leagues or Tallahassee.
Third baseman Joshua Lowe and pitchers Forrest Whitley and Cole Ragans were all selected in the first round Thursday night. All three have signed to play baseball for Mike Martin’s Seminoles next season and were expected to make an immediate impact.
Lowe, a 6-4, 190-pound third baseman from Pope High School in Marietta, Georgia, was selected 13th overall by the Tampa Bay Rays. Lowe is a left-handed bat projected by many to take over for third-team All-American John Sansone on the hot corner if he attends FSU.
With the 17th overall pick, the Houston Astros took 6-7 pitcher Forrest Whitley. Whitley is a hard-thrower at 250 pounds out of Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio. If Whitley elects to come to Florida State and both Jim and Ed Voyles stay, the Seminoles will have three pitchers who are at least 6-7.
Ragans, a 6-4 left-hander out of North Florida Christian in Tallahassee, was selected 30th overall by the Texas Rangers. If Ragans elects to play for FSU, he would be the third pitcher from Tallahassee to play for the Seminoles in two years.
To the surprise of many, shortstop Drew Mendoza, out of Lake Minneola High School in Minneola, Florida, was not selected. It was previously reported that Mendoza would need a signing bonus in the neighborhood of $3.5 million to be lured away from Tallahassee.
No FSU signees were selected in the second round. The draft resumes Friday with rounds 3-10. No current Florida State players have been selected, but Sansone, pitchers Matthew Kinney, Tyler Warmoth, Jim and Ed Voyles, Alec Byrd and Mike Compton, second baseman Matt Henderson and designated hitter Quincy Nieporte are all draft-eligible players for the Seminoles.
Phil Kelly/FSU athletics
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