Clemson pitcher Sam Weatherly was picked in the third round of the 2020 MLB Draft Thursday by the Colorado Rockies. Weatherly was picked with the No. 81 overall pick in the draft.
Weatherly is the first Clemson player selected in this year’s draft, which was shortened to five rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is every ballplayers dream to be drafted,” Weatherly said to The Clemson Insider. “Everybody wants to play baseball and then eventually play for money and hopefully have a very successful Big-League career. That has been something that I have dreamed of since I was a little kid.
“It seriously is a dream come true, to be able to go through this whole process with my family and everyone and just seeing how it all plays out. It really is just kind of a dream come true.”
Weatherly was off to a potential All-ACC caliber season when he started the 2020 season 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA in four starts. His best game came in Columbia on Feb. 28, when he no-hit rival South Carolina through seven innings of work in Clemson’s 7-1 victory.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound junior had 11 strikeouts in the win.
Weatherly, who was drafted in the 27th round of the 2017 draft, also had 14 strikeouts and allowed just two hits in six innings of work while earning the win over Stony Brook on Feb. 21. His 14 strikeouts against Stony Brook were the most by a Clemson pitcher since 1996.
The junior earned All-American honors on May 26, when Collegiate Baseball named him a third-team All-American. He was the 63rd Tiger in history to receive All-American honors. It also marked the seventh straight year a Clemson player has earned All-American honors by Collegiate Baseball.
A native of Howell, Mich., Weatherly allowed the opposition to hit just .096 in the 22 2/3 innings of work he had in 2020. He had at least eight strikeouts in all four of his starts and only gave up seven hits.
In his Clemson career, Weatherly had a 4-0 record with a 3.48 ERA. Opponents batted just .195. He recorded 106 strikeouts in 33 appearances and in 72 1/3 innings of work.
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