A pair of SWAC baseball players were selected in the later rounds of the 2022 MLB Draft on Tuesday.
Texas Southern outfielder Johnathon Thomas was taken in the 19th round by the Washington Nationals.
Over the 3 days of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft, the Washington Nationals selected 20 players.
// https://t.co/DfT175B4eM pic.twitter.com/KlGgBWjRZ1
— Nationals Player Development (@Nats_PlayerDev) July 19, 2022
Thomas hit .345, slugged 9 home runs and drove in 45 RBI for Texas Southern in 53 games as a junior.
Also read: The MLB Combine invited 250 draft-eligible players this year. There isn’t an HBCU participant
His fellow SWAC West counterpart John Garcia, the Grambling State All-SWAC catcher, was taken in the 20th round by the Houston Astros.
Here are today’s #Astros @MLBDraft selections: pic.twitter.com/8PlBiUUlo1
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 19, 2022
Garcia had a monster season for Grambling, hitting .409 with 10 home runs and 67 RBI. He also ranked No. 1 in the SWAC in on-base percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage. Those gaudy numbers earned him First Team All-SWAC honors.
