Baseball America Rates Recruiting Class No. 13
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes’ 2016 recruiting class picked up another national ranking Wednesday when Baseball America rated the team’s newcomers as the No. 13 class nationwide.
Miami’s class was ranked No. 14 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper in late September.
The group, ranked as the third-best in the ACC, continues a longstanding trend of top recruiting classes arriving on campus; Miami’s 2014 group was ranked No. 20, its 2013 class was ranked No. 6 and its 2012 newcomers were ranked No. 9.
Coming off its second straight College World Series appearance and 25th in program history, Miami lost six players to the 2016 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft this past spring. The Hurricanes won their second ACC Regular Season Championship in the past three seasons, and secured their third straight ACC Coastal Division title in 2016.
The Hurricanes had two newcomers selected in the 2016 MLB Draft, both by Cleveland: catcher Michael Amditis and right-handed pitcher/infielder Mason Studstill. Studstill was selected in the 22nd round and Amditis was selected in the 37th round.
Two junior college transfers were drafted out of high school in 2014: junior outfielders James Davison and Hunter Tackett. Davison, who arrived at Miami after two seasons at Howard Junior College (Texas), was selected in the 39th round by the Chicago White Sox in 2014. Tackett, who spent his freshman season at Auburn and was one of 12 junior college First-Team All-Americans at Northwest Florida State in 2015, was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 36th round.
Two local products who figure to make an immediate impact at Miami are right-handed pitcher/infielder Gregory Veliz (Key West, Fla.) and right-handed pitcher Evan McKendry (Pembroke Pines, Fla.). Both were highly ranked entering the 2016 MLB Draft, but their strong commitment to the Hurricanes resulted in their arrival on campus this fall.
Three players in the class were ranked among the top 500 MLB Draft-eligible players this past spring by Baseball America: Amditis (No. 200), Veliz (No. 304) and Studstill (No. 455).
To view the rankings from Baseball America, click HERE.
