Two more UCSB players were selected in the Major League Baseball draft on Tuesday, bringing the total number of Gauchos chosen in this draft to four, most in the Big West.
Pitcher Chris Troye and infielder Marcos Castanon were both selected in the 12th round, Troye by the Boston Red Sox with the 346th pick in the draft, and Castanon by the San Diego Padres with the 370th.
The 20 rounds of the MLB draft ended Tuesday.
Castanon, a junior from Rialto, has been the best bat in the lineup for the past few seasons. The infielder hit .404 in 28 games in 2021, with a .492 on-base percentage.
Despite missing two months of the season due to a broken hand, Castanon was named Second Team All-West Region and an All-Conference Honorable Mention. He also shone in the NCAA Tucson Regional, going 9-for-18 in four games with 10 RBIs and five runs.
In the regional opener against Oklahoma State, he went 5-for-6 with a homer and five RBIs in a 14-4 Gaucho victory. Castanon was named to the All-Regional team.
Castanon was ranked 409th by Baseball America, with this assessment: “He’s a strong 6-foot, 195-pound infielder who just plain hits. He has solid bat speed, controls the strike zone and has a natural feel for the barrel. He crushes fastballs, stays on breaking balls and drives the ball with authority from center to left field. He began tapping into power more this year and hit a career-high eight home runs.”
Troye, a redshirt junior from Brentwood, is a 6-foot-4 righty who bounced back from Tommy John surgery during his 2020 redshirt season, striking out the first six batters he faced in 2021, earning two saves.
For the season, working out of the bullpen but also making four starts, he pitched 18 innings.
In earlier rounds, UCSB left-handed pitcher Rodney Boone in the eighth round by the Cleveland Indians and right-handed pitcher Michael McGreevy was chosen in the first round by the St. Louis Cardinals, with the 18th overall pick.
The Gauchos now have had 53 players taken in the MLB draft during the nine years Andrew Checketts has managed the team.