Son of Tates Creek grad and a Louisville star among first players taken in MLB Draft
The talented son of a major league veteran who graduated from Tates Creek High School in Lexington was among the first players with Kentucky ties selected in the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft on Wednesday night.
Duke University junior right-handed pitcher Bryce Jarvis was drafted No. 18 overall in the first round by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bryce’s father, Kevin Jarvis, was born and raised in Lexington and starred at Wake Forest in college before being drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 21st round in 1991. He played for 10 different teams over the course of a 12-year career then spent several years working as a scout for various MLB teams before stepping away from the game to follow his son’s college career.
Now, he’ll watch as Bryce follows in his MLB footsteps. After his sophomore season with the Blue Devils, Bryce Jarvis was selected by the New York Yankees in the 37th round of last year’s draft (this year’s MLB Draft has been reduced from 40 rounds to five because of the coronavirus pandemic). The 22-year-old elected to return to school for one more year and vastly improved his draft stock by adding 20 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-2 frame and improving the velocity on his fastball, which now routinely reaches the upper 90s.
According to MLB’s draft slot values, which dictate how much money teams can spend signing their draft picks based on where they were selected, Jarvis’ first contract will be worth around $3.5 million.
Jarvis stamped the exclamation mark onto his college career in February when he struck out a career-high 15 batters on his way to the first perfect game in Duke history and 31st in NCAA history. He was named a First Team All-American this season, which was cut short because of the pandemic, going 3-1 in four starts while striking out 40, walking two and amassing a 0.67 earned run average. He went 13-4 in three seasons at Duke.
Former pitcher Al Leiter, who played 19 seasons in MLB, when asked on the MLB Network’s broadcast if he thought Jarvis was a future ace, said “I think so.
“This guy is a pitcher. I believe in everything about his repertoire ... I love everything about him.”
University of Louisville junior Reid Detmers was drafted No. 10 overall in the first round by the Los Angeles Angels. The 20-year-old left-handed pitcher was the Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year and a First Team All-American as a sophomore in 2019.
Detmers moved up to No. 4 on Louisville’s career strikeout list this year (284), fanning 48 batters over 22 innings as he went 3-0 in four starts before the season was halted. According to his draft slot value, Detmers stands to earn around $4.7 million from his first MLB contract.
Another Cardinal was the final pick in the first round. Louisville junior Bobby Miller was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers at No. 29 overall (the Houston Astros forfeited their first- and second-round picks this year in the wake of their sign-stealing scandal).
The 6-foot-5 right-handed pitcher went 7-1 with two saves in 2019 and this season posted an earned run average of 2.31 and struck out 34 over 23 innings as he went went 2-0. Miller’s first contract will likely be worth around $2.4 million.
Reds draft picks
Round 1, No. 12: Austin Hendrick, CF, West Allegheny High School (Pa.)
Royals draft picks
Round 1, No. 4: Asa Lacy, LHP, Texas A&M
Compensatory round A: Nick Loftin, SS, Baylor
Wednesday’s draft picks
First Round
1. Detroit Tigers, Spencer Torkelson, 1B, Arizona St.
2. Baltimore Orioles, Heston Kjerstad, OF, Arkansas.
3. Miami Marlins, Max Meyer, RHP, Minnesota.
4. Kansas City Royals, Asa Lacy, LHP, Texas A&M.
5. Toronto Blue Jays, Austin Martin, SS, Vanderbilt.
6. Seattle Mariners, Emerson Hancock, RHP, Georgia.
7. Pittsburgh Pirates, Nick Gonzales, SS, New Mexico St.
8. San Diego Padres, Robert Hassell III, OF, Independence H.S., Thompson Station, Tenn.
9. Colorado Rockies, Zac Veen, OF, Spruce Creek H.S., Port Orange, Fla.
10. Los Angeles Angels, Reid Detmers, LHP, Louisville.
11. Chicago White Sox, Garrett Crochet, LHP, Tennessee.
12. Cincinnati Reds, Austin Hendrick, OF, West Allegheny H.S., Imperial, Pa.
13. San Francisco Giants, Patrick Bailey, C, N.C. State.
14. Texas Rangers, Justin Foscue, 2B, Mississippi St.
15. Philadelphia Phillies, Mick Abel, RHP, Jesuit H.S., Portland, Ore.
16. Chicago Cubs, Ed Howard, SS, Mt. Carmel H.S., Chicago, Ill.
17. Boston Red Sox, Nick Yorke, 2B, Archbishop Mitty H.S., San Jose,Calif.
18. Arizona Diamondbacks, Bryce Jarvis, RHP, Duke.
19. New York Mets, Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Harvard-Westlake H.S., Studio City, Calif.
20. Milwaukee Brewers, Garrett Mitchell, OF, UCLA.
21. St. Louis Cardinals, Jordan Walker, 3B, Decatur H.S., Decatur, Ga.
22. Washington Nationals, Cade Cavalli, RHP, Oklahoma.
23. Cleveland Indians, Carson Tucker, SS, Mountain Pointe H.S., Phoenix, Ariz.
24. Tampa Bay Rays, Nick Bitsko, RHP, Central Bucks East H.S., Doylestown, Pa.
25. Atlanta Braves, Jared Shuster, LHP, Wake Forest.
26. Oakland Athletics, Tyler Soderstrom, C, Turlock H.S., Calif.
27. Minnesota Twins, Aaron Sabato, 1B, North Carolina.
28. New York Yankees, Austin Wells, C, Arizona.
29. Los Angeles Dodgers, Bobby Miller, RHP, Louisville.
Competitive Balance-Round A
30. Baltimore Orioles, Jordan Westburg, SS, Mississippi St.
31. Pittsburgh Pirates, Carmen Mlodzinski, RHP, South Carolina.
32. Kansas City Royals, Nick Loftin, SS, Baylor.
33. Arizona Diamondbacks, Slade Cecconi, RHP, Miami.
34. San Diego Padres, Justin Lange, RHP, Llano H.S., Texas
35. Colorado Rockies, Drew FRomo, C, The Woodlands H.S., Texas
36. Cleveland Indians, Tanner Burns, RHP, Auburn.
37. Tampa Bay Rays, Alika Williams, SS, Arizona St.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 9:33 PM.
