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Four Bears Selected On Day Two Of MLB Draft

by calbears.com
Jul 12, 2021
Left to right: Ian Villers, Sean Sullivan, Grant Holman and Darren Baker were all drafted on the second day of the 2021 MLB Draft.

BERKELEY – Four Golden Bears were selected on day two of the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft, putting California in a tie for the fourth-most draft picks in the country through the first 10 rounds of the 20-round event.
 
Pitchers Grant Holman, Sean Sullivan and Ian Villers as well as infielder Darren Baker had their names called during Monday's draft segment, which featured rounds 2-10 of the 20-round draft. The four draftees bring Cal's total to 16 under head coach Mike Neu since 2018. It's the second time in the last three seasons that Cal has had four top-10-round selections (2019).
 
Holman was the first Bear drafted, going 188th overall in the sixth round to the Oakland Athletics before Sullivan (No. 223) and Villers (No. 236) were taken off the board by Pittsburgh and San Francisco in the eighth round, respectively. Baker rounded out the busy day as the No. 293rd overall pick in the 10th round by the Washington Nationals.
 
After two seasons as a two-way player for the Bears in 2019 and 2020, Holman solely pitched as a junior in 2021 and made 10 starts with a 1-3 record and 3.83 ERA. Despite missing the first five weeks of the season with an injury, Holman worked 47 innings on the mound and struck out 46 batters along with a 1.53 WHIP. For his Cal career, Holman produced a 4.05 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 109.0 innings pitched. In 25 career appearances (23 starts), Holman went 5-9 with a .266 batting average against. Offensively across the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Holman slashed .264/.348/.414 with 16 extra-base hits and 34 RBI in 174 at bats.
 

 

Sullivan, a 2021 All-Pac-12 honorable mention as a junior, anchored Cal's weekend rotation with 15 starts and went 4-5 with a 3.68 ERA. The right-hander tossed 75 strikeouts in 78.1 innings pitched and stepped in during conference play by working at least six innings in five of his final seven starts this spring. In 110 career innings pitched across 38 appearances, Sullivan posted a 4.09 ERA, .252 batting average against and 107 strikeouts. He owned a 6-7 record and four saves in his collegiate career.
 

 

Villers, another 2021 All-Pac-12 honorable mention, was one of the conference's top relief pitchers throughout his junior season. In addition to making a team-leading 29 appearances on the mound, Villers went 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA and 36 strikeouts. The Walnut Creek, California, product was excellent when it mattered most this spring, allowing just three earned runs in 18 innings tossed against Pac-12 competition. Villers – who was a 19th-round selection out of high school by San Diego in the 2018 MLB Draft – was 6-2 with a 4.18 ERA and 56 strikeouts in his career.
 

 

One of Cal's most productive players in recent memory, Baker wrapped up his collegiate career in Berkeley with an impressive senior season this spring. The second baseman was an All-Pac-12 First Team and ABCA All-West Region Second Team selection after posting career highs in batting average (.327), runs (44), hits (73), walks (28), on-base percentage (.402) and stolen bases (28) in 2021. Baker was also the recipient of the Tom Hansen Pac-12 Conference Medal – earned by student-athletes who exhibit the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership – and a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, given annually to an NCAA Division I senior with notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
 
Baker was a two-time Pac-12 All-Defensive Team selection and started 166 of his 168 career games played, while slashing .302/.362/.338 to go along with 201 hits, 58 stolen bases, 118 runs scored and 20 extra-base hits. It is the second time Baker has been drafted by Washington, as he was previously taken by the Nationals in the 27th round of the 2017 MLB Draft before opting to attend Cal.
 

 
The 2021 MLB First-Year Player Draft continues with rounds 11-20 on Tuesday. Coverage begins at 9 a.m. PDT on the MLB Network.
 
Cal's Draft Picks Under Mike Neu (16)
2021: RHP Grant Holman – Round 6, Pick 188 (Oakland Athletics)
2021: RHP Sean Sullivan – Round 8, Pick 223 (Pittsburgh Pirates)
2021: RHP Ian Villers – Round 8, Pick 236 (San Francisco Giants)
2021: INF Darren Baker – Round 10, Pick 293 (Washington Nationals)
2019: INF Andrew Vaughn – Round 1, Pick 3 (Chicago White Sox)
2019: C Korey Lee – Round 1, Pick 32 (Houston Astros)
2019: INF Cameron Eden – Round 6, Pick 177 (Toronto Blue Jays)
2019: RHP Jared Horn – Round 7, Pick 219 (Colorado Rockies)
2019: LHP Arman Sabouri – Round 12, Pick 373 (Milwaukee Brewers)
2019: LHP Rogelio Reyes – Round 22, Pick 659 (Minnesota Twins)
2019: OF Brandon McIlwain – Round 26, Pick 771 (Miami Marlins) *did not sign
2018: RHP/OF Tanner Dodson – Round 2, Pick 71 (Tampa Bay Rays)
2018: RHP Aaron Shortridge – Round 4, Pick 114 (Pittsburgh Pirates)
2018: OF Jonah Davis – Round 15, Pick 444 (Pittsburgh Pirates)
2018: C Tyrus Greene – Round 16, Pick 468 (Chicago White Sox)
2018: RHP Joey Matulovich – Round 20, Pick 605 (Milwaukee Brewers)

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