LA JOLLA, Calif. – Shay Whitcomb of the University of California, San Diego baseball team was selected in the fifth round and 160th overall by the Houston Astros in the Major League Baseball draft on June 11. Whitcomb is now the highest drafted position player in school history. Only two other players who had donned a Triton uniform have been drafted higher: Kyle Abbott (Round 1, Pick 9 in 1987) and Randy Miller (Round 5, Pick 120 in 1974).
Whitcomb is the highest CCAA player drafted since 2015 when the Milwaukee Brewers selected Cody Ponce from Cal Poly Pomona in the second round 55th overall. He was one of three Division II players selected in the MLB draft.
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Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the 2020 draft was condensed to five rounds and 160 players from the high school and collegiate ranks.
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The Newbury Park product caught the attention of MLB scouts last summer when he played in the prestigious Cape Cod League. Against some of the nation's top Division I talent, Whitcomb hit .303 and eight home runs, setting the record for most home runs from a Division II player.
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Whitcomb has had a remarkable career with the Tritons. Starting a total of 136 games and only missing two, Whitcomb has been an incredible weapon at the plate. Over the last three seasons, Whitcomb has registered 170 hits, 126 runs, 95 RBIs, 41 doubles and 21 home runs. His 21 career home runs currently puts him at 10th
 all-time.
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Whitcomb was named the CCAA Freshman of the Year in 2018. The following season, Whitcomb was named the CCAA Player of the Year. He was named to the All-West First Team by three different publications and was named an All-American honorable mention by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. In the shorted 2020 season, Whitcomb hit .333 and registered 27 hits, 23 runs, five home runs and four doubles.
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The Tritons now have 14 players in the Division II era drafted in the MLB and 22 overall. They have had at least one player drafted the last four years.
About UC San Diego Athletics
With 30 national team championships, nearly 150 individual titles and the top scholar-athlete graduation rate among Division II institutions in the United States, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program annually ranks as one of the most successful in the country. The Tritons sponsor 23 intercollegiate sport programs that compete on the NCAA Division I and II levels and, in summer 2020, will transition into full Division I status as a member of the Big West Conference. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent. A total of 82 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 37 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. In competition, more than 1,300 UC San Diego scholar-athletes have earned All-America honors.
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