Former Park Hill pitching standout Aaron Ashby became the third player from Missouri taken in the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
Ashby became the No. 125 selection in the draft Tuesday morning when the Milwaukee Brewers selected the left-handed pitcher from Crowder College in Neosho, Mo.
The slot signing bonus for the fourth-round pick will be $438,3000.
Now, Ashby will have to decide to sign with the Brewers, or head to college to play for Tenneesse, where he signed earlier this season.
According to the MLB.com Top 200 prospects, he is ranked No. 112, while Baseball America tabs him at 105 overall and Ashby wasn’t far off those rankings.
Jennifer Lallemand/Special to the Citizen
Former Park Hill standout Aaron Ashby was drafted in the fourth round by Milwaukee on Tuesday in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He will have to chose between signing or going to Tennessee.
The southpaw went 11-2 with 1 save and a 2.29 ERA for the Roughriders. He gave up 26 runs — 19 earned — in 74 2/3 innings with 156 strikeouts. He broke the previous school record of 114 in a season.
His strikeout total and his 18.8 K/9 innings is tops among all junior college players.
The Texas Rangers drafted Ashby last year in the 25th round but he decided to return to college.
Ashby recently held a private workout with the Kansas City Royals and was flew to Tampa Bay last week for a workout with the Rays.
His MLB.com scouting profile says, “Ashby’s money pitch is a plus curveball that he can manipulate into a harder, shorter slider at times. He opened his sophomore season throwing in the upper 80s but ended the year working at 91-94 mph while reaching double-digit strikeouts in his last five starts, including 17 in his final outing. He also has a changeup that he doesn’t use very often. Ashby is athletic but has a funky delivery that hampers his ability to throw strikes.” Ashby will look to become the latest draft pick out of Crowder, which currently has four players in the minors. He is also following in the footsteps of his uncle, Andy, who went from Park Hill to Crowder College.
The elder Ashby signed as an undrafted free agent with the Phillies, where he made his debut in 1991. Andy Ashby was later part of the first Colorado Rockies team and then made the All-Star Game in 1998 and 1999 with San Diego.