After having the third-longest scoreless inning streak in Division I baseball history, Pepperdine Waves junior pitcher A.J. Puckett was selected 67th overall in the Major League Baseball draft by reigning World Series champs the Kansas City Royals.
During a press conference to announce his signing of a $1.2 million bonus with the Royals, Puckett said he has heard great things about the ball club.
“Kansas City is a really fun place to play,” he said.
Puckett was one of three Pepperdine baseball players selected during the June 9-11 draft a couple of weeks after the team’s season came to an end on May 27. The other two players drafted were junior shortstop Manny Jefferson and senior first baseman Brad Anderson.
All three players had impactful seasons as the Waves went 29-24, with Puckett leading the way with a litany of strikeouts and a post-season of awards and recognition.
Royals Director of Scouting Lonnie Goldberg said scouts from the MLB team watched Puckett play a lot during the stretch where he pitched 45 2/3 innings without a Waves opponent scoring.
“He fills up the strike zone — attacks it,” Goldberg said of Puckett. “He’s a good athlete who has a good pickoff move.”
Goldberg also said the Royals noticed that the 6-foot-4, 200-pound pitcher added a few tricks to his 90-94 mph fastball, has a good change-up and an improving curve pitch. The scout said the team felt fortunate to select Puckett in the second round of the draft.
In fact, the team has known about Puckett since he was a high school baseball pitcher in Northern California. The ball player was drafted out of high school by the Oakland Athletics in the 2013 draft, but he decided instead to attend Pepperdine.
The 21-year-old, right-handed ace went 9-3 this season with a 1.27 ERA, 95 strikeouts and 26 walks over 99 1/3 innings. Puckett went 57 1/3 innings between surrendering earned runs. The standout pitcher was named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year and to a quartet of All-American teams including the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and D1Baseball.com. Puckett was also named to the ABCA’s All-West Region Team.
Puckett said attending Pepperdine was the right decision.
“I think I learned a lot,” he said. “You’re growing up in high school, you want to get drafted. You want to get to the [majors] as fast as you can.”
Jefferson and Anderson were taken on the final day of the draft. Jefferson was selected in the 13th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 389th pick. Anderson was chosen by the Los Angeles Angels with the 1,206th pick in the 40th round.
Jefferson, 21, had a breakout season for Pepperdine. The 6-foot-3 infielder led the Waves with 12 home runs, slugged .515 and had a batting average of .277. The three-year Pepperdine player also drove in 38 runs, scored 34 runs, hit 10 doubles and a triple and drew a team-leading 25 walks. Jefferson was named to the All-West Coast team. Jefferson was one of 40 Diamondback draft picks and he has been assigned to their short season Class A minor league team, the Hillsboro Hops, in Oregon.
Anderson, Pepperdine’s cleanup hitter, batted .279 and hit 10 home runs this season. The 6-foot-4 player had a Waves-high 39 RBIs and 35 runs. Anderson hit 10 doubles and two triples. He hit .279, drove in 116 runs and scored 100 during his Pepperdine career. He hit 25 career homers and 34 career doubles, posted a .445 slugging percentage and .359 on-base percentage.
Anderson was named the WCC Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors in 2015 after helping the Waves to back-to-back WCC Tournament titles. He was also named to the WCC All-Tournament team in 2014.
