RALEIGH – Senior first baseman Evan Edwards was selected as the No. 11 pick in the fourth round to the Miami Marlins in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft on Tuesday afternoon.
The Greensboro, N.C., native is the second Wolfpack player to get drafted this week behind first-rounder Will Wilson. A 2019 All-ACC Third Team selection, he spent his final two seasons of in Raleigh after playing two years at USC Lancaster.
Edwards was one of two players in the nation this year to have started every game for his team and not commit an error, joining Cincinnati’s Jeremy Johnston. He also held a 35-game reached base safely streak and reached in 57 of a possible 61.
He led the team with 60 runs batted in, 51 walks and a .455 on-base percentage, and finished second in batting average (.330), runs scored (59), hits (76), doubles (17), home runs (14), total bases (139) and slugging percentage (.604). Additionally, he ranks among the top 15 in the Atlantic Coast Conference in all 10 offensive categories.
With the selection, head coach Elliott Avent (23rd season) has had 107 MLB Draft picks. Under his tutelage, this is the second time NC State has had at least two players drafted in the first four rounds in the same year. The last time was in 2014 with Carlos Rodon (1st), Trea Turner (1st) and Brett Austin (4th).
The NC State Baseball team is now 7-0 through two weeks of play, going 4-0 last week, defeating Coastal Carolina 16-4 on the road in a midweek game, and sweeping Belmont at home this past weekend (11-4, 7-0, 7-1).
The Wolfpack remain ranked 21st in the D1Baseball Top-25.
The Wolfpack moved up 11 spots to #19 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll, up 2 spots to #20 in the Coaches Poll, and up 1 spot to #24 in the Baseball America poll.
NC State will host Longwood today at 3pm in their next matchup.
But while I was over on Twitter, I saw a ton of comments on it, all of them NC State fans, and almost all of them critical of the new look.
Look, I don’t know what’s going on here. Maybe it’ll look a lot better once it’s done, or maybe the grass will match up a lot better when it greens up. But right now, it’s a little jarring. Here is how it used to look…
Again, I’m going to wait until it’s really done before I cast judgement, but I think the official tweet from the school marketing it and drawing attention to it, has people thinking it’s in it’s final form. And maybe it is. But I hope it’s not.
I remember this being shared a while back…
This shows grass in foul territory and dirt in the 1st/3rd baselines. So I’m not sure when this turf thing came along. And while we’re on the subject, aren’t we a turf management school? Shouldn’t we be turning up our noses at artificial turf?
Apparently, this is a thing now, where foul territories are artificial turf and fair territory is grass. Here is Mississippi State’s baseball field doing the same thing.
Can’t say I like it there either, honestly. It just seems like one of those fads. Remember when everyone was going crazy with field/court colors?
School with a grey field and school with a glow in the dark basketball court meet on blue turf. Winning coach gets dumped with French fries. College athletics at its absolute best. https://t.co/crEKoeLKbXpic.twitter.com/Bpeod50Sy4
Did anyone ever really like those? Do people like them now? Have they ever gotten a recruit to come to the school? Have they ever scared a recruit away?
I don’t know. You tell me. I’ll hold final judgment, but things NC State fans don’t seem like they’re going to follow along.