Duo of BYU baseball prospects taken in MLB draft

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Ty Mullen
BYU baseball saw three of its players — one current player, Jackson Cluff, and two future players, Cutter Clawson and Cy Nielson — taken in the 2019 MLB draft. (Ty Mullen)

BYU baseball prospects Cutter Clawson and Cy Nielson heard their names called on day two of the MLB draft. Clawson was taken in the 33rd round by the Washington Nationals, and Nielson was taken in the 40th round by the Cleveland Indians.

Though neither of the prospects has put on a BYU uniform, it is expected that they will both still report to BYU and forego signing with their respective MLB teams. Clawson has already announced that he will honor his commitment to BYU Via Twitter, while Nielson is still expected to do so.

Referring to the MLB rulebook, players are allowed to re-enter the draft if they decide not to sign with their respective draft teams. If a player is graduating high school and decides to play for their college team after being drafted, they must wait until they are 21 or until they have completed their junior year of college before they are eligible to be chosen in an upcoming draft, unless attending a junior college. The rulebook states:

Certain groups of players are ineligible for selection, generally because they are still in school. The basic categories of players eligible to be drafted are:

  • High school players, if they have graduated from high school and have not yet attended college or junior college;
  • College players, from four-year colleges who have either completed their junior or senior years or are at least 21 years old; and
  • Junior college players, regardless of how many years of school they have completed

Clawson is a pitcher and infielder from Laguna Beach, California. In his senior season, the lefty went 6-4 with a 2.30 ERA. In 45.2 innings, Clawson struck out 61 batters while walking 30. He held opposing batters to a 2.25 batting average and allowed just one home run, according to maxpreps.com.

At the plate, Clawson had a .346 batting average and recorded six home runs. He had 20 RBIs and 27 hits in 28 games, also recording 25 runs.

Nielson, a pitcher from Spanish Fork, went 6-0 with a 2.26 ERA in his senior season. In 31 innings, he struck out 55 batters and allowed 17 walks. Opposing batters had a .184 batting average against Nielson, and he allowed no home runs, according to maxpreps.com

Adding to his impressive pitching stats, Nielson had a .446 batting average and recorded two home runs. in 23 games, he had 29 hits and 22 RBIs, recording eight runs.

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