Tyler Colvin Taken in First Round

Clemson starting leftfielder Tyler Colvin was selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday. The native of North Augusta, SC was the 13th selection of the entire draft, the third non-pitcher from college baseball, and the second outfielder taken. Drew Stubbs of Texas (eighth pick to Cincinnati) was the only college outfielder taken ahead of Colvin.

Colvin was a Second-Team All-ACC pick and made the All-Tournament teams at both the ACC Tournament and Clemson Regional. He has helped Clemson to a 50-14 record and a berth in the Clemson Super Regional of the NCAA Tournament. His Tigers begin play on Friday against Oral Roberts at Clemson's Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers are the #1 seed in the entire tournament.

Colvin leads the Tigers in batting average (.359), hits (93), doubles (22), total bases (161), and stolen bases (23). He is on pace to join Khalil Greene (2002) as the first Tigers to lead the team in total bases and stolen bases in the same year since 1992. He enters the NCAA Ttournament with a 23-game hitting streak, the fifth-longest in Clemson history and the longest since Khalil Greene had a 34-game streak in 2002.

Colvin has something else in common with Greene, and that is his draft position. Greene, currently the starting shortstop with the San Diego Padres, was the #13 selection of the entire draft in June of 2002. In fact, Colvin is the fourth different Tiger taken with the #13 selection of the Major League Draft. Mike Paradis, a pitcher on Clemson's 1999 team, was the #13 selection in the first round by the Baltimore Orioles, and Bill Spiers was the #13 selection by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1987. Both Colvin and Greene were both undrafted out of high school as well.

Overall, Colvin's #13 selection ties for the third-highest draft pick in Clemson baseball history. Kris Benson was the #1 pick of the draft in 1996 by the Pittsburgh Pirates, while teammate and fellow pitcher Billy Koch was the #4 selection that year (Toronto Blue Jays).

Colvin's selection gives Clemson a first-round draft choice in both football and baseball this year, the first time that has happened since 1999. Former Tiger cornerback Tye Hill was the #15 selection of the NFL Draft by the Saint Louis Rams in April. The last time Clemson had a first-round selection in both football and baseball in the same year was in 1999 when Antwan Edwards was a first-round selection in football (Green Bay) and Paradis was chosen in baseball by Baltimore.

Clemson, Southern California, and Texas were the only schools to have a first-round draft selection in football and baseball this year. If Clemson basketball center Akin Akingbala is taken in the first round of the NBA Draft, in June it would give Clemson a first-round selection in all three major sports in the same year for just the second time in history. The only previous instance took place in 1987, when Terrance Flagler (football), Bill Spiers (baseball), and Horace Grant (basketball) were all first-round selections in the same year.

Colvin is the first Clemson player drafted by the Chicago Cubs since Zane Green was a 44th-round pick in 2004. Only two former Tigers have played in a Major League game for the Cubs, including Kurt Seibert in 1979 and Norm McMillan in 1928,29.