Five Players Make Plans To Attend Draft



Major League Baseball announced today that five players are scheduled to attend the draft on June 4 at MLB Network’s Studio 42 in Secaucus, N.J. Gavin Cecchini, Carlos Correa, Clint Coulter, Courtney Hawkins and Andrew Heaney comprise what will be largest group of potential draftees to ever attend the event.

Cecchini, a shortstop for Barbe High in Lake Charles, La., hit .413 this season with seven home runs and 32 RBIs as Barbe won the Louisiana 5-A championship. Last fall, he helped lead USA Baseball’s 18-and-under team to a gold medal at the Junior Pan Am Championships in Colombia, hitting .500 with 17 RBI in 15 games. The 18-year-old was the 2011 player of the year in Louisiana after his junior season, when he hit .532 with 11 home runs and 45 RBIs. Cecchini has committed to Mississippi and is No. 16 on the BA 500.

Correa is a shortstop at the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy who has been moving up draft boards since a strong showing in Puerto Rico’s Excellence Tournament. Correa went 2-for-3 with two home runs in the opening game and was later named the MVP of the tournament. Correa has committed to Miami and is No. 6 on the BA 500.

Coulter is a catcher from Union High in Camas, Wash. He batted .400 with four home runs in his junior season and earned all-state honors, then hit .515 in league play as a senior with 16 stolen bases and a .698 on-base percentage. He is signed to play at Arizona State and sits at No. 48 on the BA 500.

Hawkins is an outfielder and pitcher at Carroll High in Corpus Christi, Texas. He led his team to the Texas 5-A championship as a sophomore in 2010 and he was MVP of the title game. Hawkins batted .410 with 15 home runs, 49 RBIs, 22 stolen bases and a .940 slugging percentage in 2011, and went 10-2, 2.35 with 81 strikeouts on the mound. Hawkins began his senior season hitting .457 with 10 home runs, 36 RBIs and 16 stolen bases to go with a 3-1, 0.83 mark on the mound with 44 strikeouts in 25 innings. Hawkins is No. 15 on the BA 500 and has committed to Texas.

Heaney is the lone college player scheduled to attend. The Oklahoma State lefthander went 8-2, 1.60 with six complete games and three shutouts in 15 starts this season to win Big 12 Conference pitcher of the year honors. In 118 innings he permitted just 21 earned runs on 74 hits with 22 walks and 140 strikeouts while holding opposing hitters to a .180 average. Heaney was originally drafted by the Rays in the 24th round in 2009 out of Putnam City High in Oklahoma City and is No. 17 on the BA 500.

The draft will begin live on MLB Network and MLB.com at 7 p.m. Eastern on Monday.  Prior to the draft, MLB Network will air a preview show, beginning at 6 p.m. Day one will feature live pick-by-pick coverage of the first round as well as the supplemental round. MLB Network's coverage will feature Jim Callis of Baseball America, among others.



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