Nationals select 28 players on second day of MLB's First-Year Player Draft

The Washington Nationals today selected 28 players on the second day of Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft. Nationals Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Nationals Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Player Personnel Roy Clark and Nationals Director of Scouting Kris Kline made the joint announcement. The Nationals selected Texas Christian University left-handed pitcher Matt Purke, widely considered one of the most-complete pitchers in the Draft, with their third-round pick (96th overall). Purke went 5-1 with a 1.71 ERA in 11 starts with the Horned Frogs in 2011, posting a .187 batting average against with 61 strikeouts in 52.2 innings. The consensus National Freshman of the Year in 2010, the 20-year-old Purke went 21-1 with a 2.61 ERA and 203 strikeouts in 31 games/29 starts during his collegiate career. He was originally selected by the Texas Rangers with the 14th-overall pick in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft (did not sign), after Rivals.com ranked him the top high school prospect in the nation. Over the first two days of the three-day Draft, the Nationals have selected a total of 31 players: 11 right-handed pitchers, eight left-handed pitchers, two catchers, six infielders and four outfielders. They have selected two players with local ties: Georgetown University catcher Erick Fernandez (25th round) and George Washington University left-handed pitcher Bobby Lucas (27th round). Shortstop Deion Williams (16th round) is the grandson of former big-league first baseman George Scott, right-handed pitcher Travis Henke (22nd round) is the son of former Major League closer Tom Henke and left-handed pitcher Bryan Harper (30th round) is the brother of Single-A Hagerstown Suns outfielder Bryce Harper. NATIONALS' SELECTIONS IN 2011 MLB FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT RD PICK PLAYER POS B/T HT WT DOB SCHOOL 1 6 Anthony Rendon 3B R/R 6-0 190 6/6/90 Rice Univ. (TX) 1 23 Alex Meyer RHP R/R 6-9 220 1/3/90 Univ. of Kentucky S 34 Brian Goodwin OF L/L 6-1 195 11/2/90 Miami Dade College (FL) 3 96 Matt Purke LHP L/L 6-3 175 7/17/90 Texas Christian Univ. 4 127 Kylin Turnbull LHP L/L 6-5 200 9/12/89 Santa Barbara CC (CA) 5 157 Matt Skole 3B L/R 6-3 230 7/30/89 Georgia Tech Univ. 6 187 Taylor Hill RHP R/R 6-3 225 3/12/89 Vanderbilt Univ. (TN) 7 217 Brian Dupra RHP R/R 6-3 205 12/15/88 Notre Dame Univ. (IN) 8 247 Greg Holt RHP R/R 6-2 200 6/19/89 Univ. of North Carolina 9 277 Dixon Anderson RHP R/R 6-6 225 7/2/89 Univ. of California-Berkley 10 307 Manny Rodriguez RHP R/R 6-2 225 1/12/89 Barry Univ. (FL) 11 337 Caleb Ramsey OF L/R 6-3 210 10/7/88 Univ. of Houston (TX) 12 367 Blake Monar LHP L/L 6-2 205 6/16/89 Indiana Univ. 13 397 Blake Kalenkosky 1B R/R 6-0 204 10/28/89 Texas State Univ. 14 427 Cody Stubbs OF L/R 6-3 215 1/14/91 Walters State CC (TN) 15 457 Zach Houchins SS R/R 6-3 185 9/16/92 Louisburg JC (NC) 16 487 Deion Williams SS R/R 6-3 185 11/11/92 Redan HS (GA) 17 517 Esteban Guzman RHP R/R 6-4 220 2/15/90 San Jose State Univ. (CA) 18 547 Nicholas Lee LHP L/L 6-1 190 1/31/91 Weatherford College (TX) 19 577 Hawtin Buchannan RHP L/R 6-8 245 4/29/93 Biloxi HS (MS) 20 607 Josh Laxer RHP R/R 6-1 190 6/7/93 Madison Central HS (MS) 21 637 Todd Simko LHP L/L 6-4 225 12/5/88 Texas A&M Univ.-Corpus Christi 22 667 Travis Henke RHP R/R 6-6 250 7/9/88 Univ. of Arkansas-Little Rock 23 697 Khayyan Norfork 2B R/R 5-10 190 1/19/89 Univ. of Tennessee 24 727 Kyle Ottoson LHP L/L 6-2 165 7/11/90 Arizona State Univ. 25 757 Erick Fernandez C R/R 5-11 190 11/30/88 Georgetown Univ. (DC) 26 787 Shawn Pleffner OF L/R 6-5 225 8/17/89 Univ. of Tampa (FL) 27 817 Bobby Lucas LHP L/L 6-4 220 8/12/87 George Washington Univ. (DC) 28 847 Kenneth Ferrer RHP R/R 6-1 220 12/13/89 Elon Univ. (NC) 29 877 Sean Cotton C R/R 6-2 210 11/15/88 Tusculum College (TN) 30 907 Bryan Harper LHP L/L 6-6 210 12/29/89 Univ. of South Carolina