Danny Hultzen: THE #2 Overall Pick

"With the second selection of the 2011 first-year player draft, the Seattle Mariners select Danny Hultzen, left-handed pitcher from the University of Virginia" Bud Selig

Yea, I am still pretty amazed that Commissioner Selig uttered those 17 words in a single sentence. I tweeted last night that you know someone has to go #2 overall in a draft but you never think it will be someone you've played with and know. Not a day goes by that I'm not unbelievably proud to have worn the UVa baseball uniform; yesterday was certainly no different. 

If you had asked me yesterday afternoon where I thought Danny would be drafted I would have put $100 down that he would not get picked by the Mariners with the second pick. It was thought to be commonly known that the Mariners were looking to take a strong bat and were leaning towards selecting Anthony Rendon out of Rice. With the Mariners planning to take Rendon, I was almost positive that Danny would "fall" to third and be selected by the Diamondbacks again. I thought he could be selected by the Pirates with the top pick but, as we all know, Major League Baseball is infatuated by flame throwers and Gerritt Cole is just that. Oh well.

Since Danny was the #2 overall pick (Sorry, I just like typing it), he becomes the highest pick ever to wear a UVa baseball uniform. He joins Ryan Zimmerman('05), Brian Buchanan('94), and Seth Greisinger('96) as former Cavaliers taken in the first round and also becomes the highest selected ACC player since UNC's Dustin Ackley was selected by the Mariners with the second overall pick in 2009.

Danny's "asking price" (what he has told teams how much money he it will take for him to sign) has been discussed on numerous baseball sites and tweeted by a few draft/prospect experts. I'm not going to comment on it or go into it because that should be a private number between Danny and the teams. I find it unbelievable that the pundit found it ok to release such information. If anyone truly wants to know how much money Danny gets as a signing bonus, that information will be released after he signs. I expect Danny will probably end up signing in the middle of July. He deserves a break and this will be his opportunity to get that break while working out all the contractual details.

What I will say is that Danny will not be a Cavalier next year. There is not much else for Danny to prove at the college level and he can't get drafted much higher than he was yesterday. His father is a very smart man and one of the finest surgeons on the east coast. He will ensure that Danny gets his degree down the road and I am certain it will be in Danny's contract that the Mariners will pay for that education.

The 2011 MLB first-year player draft continues today at noon and is expected to get to rounds 2-30. You can follow the draft on MLB.com. Look for UVa to have up to eight more players selected in the years' draft which would only be one less than the record nine that were selected last year. I will be giving updates of all the players taken in the draft via twitter @STLUVaBaseball and will be getting PUMPED for this weekend's games against UC-Irvine! Go HOOS!