Red Sox pick Byrnes' Gossett in 16th round of MLB draft
Limestone's Maloney, Wofford's Cornely also selected
Two of Daniel Gossett's boyhood dreams are on the verge of coming true. Now he has to choose one.
Gossett, a pitcher who recently graduated from Byrnes High School and has signed to play at Clemson, was picked Tuesday in the 16th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Boston Red Sox.
“It's definitely going to be a tough decision,” Gossett said. “College baseball has been one of my dreams since I was little. I wanted to play for the Tigers at Doug Kingsmore Stadium and go to Omaha (Neb., for the College World Series). I've also dreamed about playing pro ball. I'll have to see what will pan out.”
Gossett helped lead Byrnes to a second straight appearance in the 4A state championship series, where he suffered his first loss of the year. During the regular season, he was 5-0 with a 0.14 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 49 innings.
“You always hear about that one person getting drafted in high school,” Gossett said. “Now it's me. It's crazy to think I just got drafted in the 16th round by the Boston Red Sox. “ Gossett is playing this week with a travel team at a tournament in Georgia and said he won't worry about making a decision just yet.
“I'm trying to soak it in a little bit,” he said. “I'll have to think about it.”
Two other pitchers who played at area high schools also got drafted. Kyle Deese (Western Carolina) from Chapman was taken in the 23rd round by the St. Louis Cardinals and Joseph Moorefield (Clemson) from Byrnes went in the 26th round to the Kansas City Royals.
Limestone catcher Joe Maloney was a 10th round pick by the Texas Rangers, Wofford pitcher John Cornely went in the 15th round to the Atlanta Braves and Spartanburg Methodist center fielder Travis Burnside went in the 25th round to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Easley native and former SMC infielder Taylor Black of Kentucky was taken in the 16th round by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Maloney, a junior, batted .308 with 16 home runs and 61 RBIs. He is tied for the school's career record with 34 homers. He also hit 14 doubles and had a .654 slugging percentage.
“I'm ecstatic right now,” Maloney said. “I was watching the draft on the computer with my family when they called my name and I just went crazy. It was awesome.”
The Alston, Pa., native became the first player from Limestone to be named All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and was also the first to win Conference Carolinas Player of the Year.
Drafted that high, Maloney will almost surely not return to Limestone.
“We'll have to look at the (signing bonus) numbers,” he said. “But it's pretty unlikely that I'm coming back.”
Maloney said he knew about a week into the season that he had a chance to get drafted if he continued to put up impressive numbers.
“I hit a home run in the first game and it kept building from there,” he said. “My coaches told me early in the season that four or five scouts had been to every game. So that's when it started to set in that my dream since I was 5 years old playing T-ball was actually coming true.”
Cornely, a Mount Pleasant native who played at Bishop England High School, was Wofford's closer. He went 2-1 with nine saves and a 1.85 ERA. In 39 innings, he allowed 22 hits, struck out 49 and walked 17.
A lifelong Braves fan, Cornely said he was planning to be drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I was actually talking with one of their scouts in the draft room and I heard the pick through his phone,” Cornely said. “He was telling me, ‘We're going to take you with our next pick,' and I heard over the intercom, ‘The Braves select Francis Cornely.' So I was pretty excited.
“Then I got a bunch of text messages from some of my closest friends saying, ‘Your name is Francis?' They've been teasing me.”
Burnside, from Laurens, batted .335 with eight home runs, 42 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in his sophomore season while making only four errors. He has scholarship offers from Tennessee Wesleyan and Mount Olive.
“I'm going to see what the offer is from the Dodgers and I won't just sign for anything,” Burnside said. “But I'll probably end up signing. I'm trying to get my foot in the door.”
He was signed by a scout familiar with the SMC program. Lon Joyce coached the Pioneers for 14 years.
“He's been watching me since my senior year in high school,” Burnside said. “Every time I saw him, we had a good conversation. He would give me pointers on what I needed to fix — getting to inside pitches better, my first step on balls in the outfield, things like that.”
Deese originally signed with Clemson, but took a redshirt season and transferred to Walters State before ending up at Western Carolina. This year, he made 13 appearances with a 3.31 ERA and no decisions in 16 innings. He allowed only seven hits while striking out 22 and walking 15. Opponents hit .125 against him.
Moorefield, a third-year sophomore at Clemson, had a 5.28 ERA in 15 innings covering 24 appearances. He allowed 19 hits while striking out nine and walking five.
C Joe Maloney, Limestone (10th round, Texas Rangers) P John Cornely, Wofford (15th round, Atlanta Braves) P Daniel Gossett, Byrnes High (16th round, Boston Red Sox) IF Taylor Black, Kentucky, Spartanburg Methodist (16th round, Philadelphia Phillies) P Kyle Deese, Western Carolina, Chapman High (23rd round, St. Louis Cardinals) OF Travis Burnside, Spartanburg Methodist (25th round, Los Angeles Dodgers) P Joseph Moorefield, Clemson, Byrnes High (26th round, Kansas City Royals)