Smith and Mathews Taken On Day Two Of MLB Draft
June 07, 2006 | Baseball
June 7, 2006
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Jake Smith and Shane Mathews both heard their names called Wednesday afternoon as they were selected on the second day of the 2006 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
Smith, a finalist for the Johnny Bench award given to the top collegiate catcher, was the 638th overall pick in the 21st round by the Oakland Athletics. He led the Pirates in seven offensive categories including average, hits, doubles, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage, while ranking second in home runs with 13.
The Greensboro, N.C. native became the eighth Pirate to earn first-team All Conference-USA honors on May 23. Earlier in the season Smith took home C-USA Hitter-of-the-Week honors on Feb. 27 after collecting a then-best five RBIs against Duke in a 19-5 win. Smith finished his collegiate career with 29 home runs and 135 RBIs, which ranks in the top 12 on ECU's all-time charts.
Mathews, a native of Conover, N.C., was taken in the 26th round (pick 776) by the San Francisco Giants. The redshirt sophomore posted a 5-3 record with a 4.73 ERA in 19 appearances and led the team with 75 strikeouts. He established new career-highs in strikeouts (nine) against Stony Brook and innings pitched (8 1/3) versus Tulane in the 2006 C-USA Tournament en route to all-tournament team honors. Mathews recorded the lone save of the his career against Tulane on May 24, working an inning and two-thirds of hitless relief, fanning two of the six batters he faced.
Smith and Mathews are the 13th and 14th Pirate draft picks since the 2003 season.
