Roller Selected By The Yankees In MLB Draft
June 08, 2010 | Baseball
June 8, 2010
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Senior Kyle Roller didn't have to wait long to hear his named called at the 2010 Major League Baseball First Year Amateur Player Draft as he was selected in the eighth round, pick 265 overall, by the 2009 World Champion New York Yankees Tuesday afternoon.
Roller, who was named first-team All-Conference USA last month as a designated hitter, posted a .324 (61-for-188) average with 12 home runs and 48 RBI. The Rockingham, N.C. native set a new single-season school record with 61 free passes, which ranked third nationally, and was hit 22 times - ranking third on the Pirates' single-season charts. He started all 58 games played splitting time between first base (30 games) and as the DH (28). Roller was an on-base machine this season posting an impressive .529 on-base percentage (61 H, 61 BB, 22 HBP), which ranked fourth in C-USA and 14th nationally.
The 2009 All-America selection smacked his 51st career home run and first career against Memphis at the 2010 C-USA Championships and finished his career ranked second all-time in homer's behind Winfred Johnson, who hit 70 (1983-86). Roller leaves ECU ranked among the all-time leaders in hit by pitches (60/1st), walks (140/2nd), RBI (203/3rd), games played (223/t5th), runs (181/6th), starts (210/7th), at-bats (759/7th) and hits (242/7th).
Roller, who was drafted in the 47th round (pick 1,413) by the Oakland Athletics in 2009, is the 15th player drafted during head coach Billy Godwin's five years at ECU.
ALL-TIME EAST CAROLINA BASEBALL DRAFT HISTORY
Name - Year - Round - Pick - Team
Pat Watkins - 1993 - 1 - 32 - Cincinnati Reds
James Snyder - 1968 - 2 - 38 - Pittsburgh Pirates
Richard Narron - 1967 - 5 - 88 - Washington Senators (II)
Ricky Brooks - 2005 - 3 - 95 - Chicago White Sox
Tommy Toms - 1973 - 6 - 126 - San Francisco Giants
Ronald Staggs - 1975 - 6 - 130 - Montreal Expos
Greg Bunn - 2004 - 5 - 144 - Montreal Expos
Justin Bristow - 2008 - 5 - 161 - Chicago Cubs
Tommy Eason - 1991 - 6 - 162 - Philadelphia Phillies
Lee Delfino - 2001 - 6 - 181 - Toronto Blue Jays
Mike Christopher - 1985 - 7 - 181 - New York Yankees
Samuel Narron - 1967 - 12 - 187 - New York Mets
Chad Tracy - 2001 - 7 - 218 - Arizona Diamondbacks
Devin Harris - 2009 - 8 - 236 - Baltimore Orioles
Shane Mathews - 2007 - 8 - 249 - San Francisco Giants
Trevor Lawhorn - 2004 - 9 - 258 - Cincinnati Reds
Kyle Roller - 2010 - 265 - New York Yankees
Ryan Norwood - 2004 - 9 - 276 - Chicago Cubs
James Raynor - 1966 - 14 - 279 - Los Angeles Dodgers
Bobby Supel - 1978 - 12 - 287 - Atlanta Braves
Butch Davis - 1980 - 12 - 302 - Kansas City Royals
Mike Aldridge - 1971 - 14 - 324 - New York Mets
Kelly Robinette - 1983 - 13 - 325 - Cleveland Indians
Darryl Lawhorn - 2004 - 11 - 326 - Arizona Diamondbacks
Ryan Wood - 2009 - 11 - 332 - Kansas City Royals
Glenn Tucker - 2003 - 11 - 337 - Atlanta Braves
Chris Heston - 2009 - 12 - 357 - San Francisco Giants
Mike Jacobs - 1994 - 14 - 383 - Boston Red Sox
Raymie Styons - 1980 - 16 - 395 - San Diego Padres
Bill Wilder - 1982 - 16 - 401 - Kansas City Royals
Corey Kemp - 2008 - 14 - 428 - Milwaukee Brewers
Billy Richardson - 2005 - 14 - 428 - San Diego Padres
John Rawls - 1965 - 22 - 435 - Baltimore Orioles
Sam Narron - 2002 - 15 - 442 - Texas Rangers
Steve Godin - 1990 - 17 - 457 - Baltimore Orioles
Matt Bishop - 2004 - 17 - 502 - Pittsburgh Pirates
John Poppert - 2004 - 17 - 504 - Montreal Expos
Jonathan Jenkins - 1990 - 20 - 519 - Chicago White Sox
Mark Minicozzi - 2005 - 17 - 522 - San Francisco Giants
Stephen Batts - 2009 - 19 - 587 - Philadelphia Phillies
Bob Patterson - 1982 - 21 - 523 - San Diego Padres
Dale Mollenhauer - 2007 - 17 - 539 - Chicago White Sox
David Ritchie - 1989 - 21 - 541 - Kansas City Royals
John Williamson - 2001 - 18 - 549 - Seattle Mariners
Carlton Barnes - 1965 - 29 - 556 - Cincinnati Reds
Steve Salargo - 1999 - 20 - 607 - Baltimore Orioles
Bob Davidson - 1984 - 24 - 615 - New York Yankees
Dustin Sasser - 2007 - 21 - 637 - Chicago Cubs
Brian Cavanaugh - 2005 - 21 - 638 - San Diego Padres
Jake Smith - 2006 - 21 - 638 - Oakland Athletics
Clayton McCullough - 2002 - 22 - 664 - Cleveland Indians
John Gast - 1991 - 25 - 666 - Cincinnati Reds
Ryan Jones - 2004 - 22 - 667 - Oakland Athletics
Travis Meyer - 1995 - 24 - 667 - Los Angeles Dodgers
Billy Best - 1980 - 27 - 673 - Kansas City Royals
Fred Rodriguez - 1966 - 37 - 691 - Chicago Cubs
Mickey Britt - 1980 - 30 - 715 - San Diego Padres
Joseph Hastings - 2001 - 24 - 720 - San Diego Padres
Kevin Riggs - 1990 - 28 - 730 - Cincinnati Reds
Shane Mathews - 2006 - 26 - 776 - San Francisco Giants
Wayne Britton - 1965 - 56 - 790 - Baltimore Orioles
Jason Colquitt - 1998 - 27 - 807 - Detroit Tigers
Jamie Borel - 1994 - 29 - 809 - Detroit Tigers
Chris West - 1993 - 29 - 814 - San Diego Padres
Davey Penny - 2003 - 28 - 834 - Boston Red Sox
Tim Flaherty - 1997 - 30 - 898 - San Francisco Giants
Brian Fields - 1997 - 30 - 907 - Milwaukee Brewers
Nick Schnabel - 2000 - 31 - 915 - Montreal Expos
Randy Rigsby - 1998 - 32 - 970 - Florida Marlins
Jason Howard - 1999 - 33 - 998 - Cincinnati Reds
Tim Langdon - 1990 - 39 - 1013 - Cleveland Indians
T.J. Hose - 2008 - 36 - 1098 - Arizona Diamondbacks
Jason Neitz - 2007 - 37 - 1117 - San Francisco Giants
Johnny Beck - 1994 - 43 - 1198 - Philadelphia Phillies
Ryan Wood - 2008 - 42 - 1268 - Milwaukee Brewers
Kyle Roller - 2009 - 47th - 1413 - Oakland Athletics
