THUNDER BAY – The 2015 Thunder Bay Border Cats were well-represented in this year’s MLB draft.
A total of seven players with ties to that year's team were taken this week, as major league baseball teams combed through the high school and college ranks to restock their farm systems.
Pitcher Jimmy Murphy, who went 1-0 two summers ago and struck out 10 in 32 innings, was the first player off the board, going in the eighth round, 248th overall, to the Baltimore Orioles.
Murphy, who plays for Fordham University, led all team starters this past season, posting a 2.59 earned run average in 13 starts, tossing 93.2 innings and striking out 85.
Twenty-three picks later it was Michael Papierski’s turn, albeit for the second time.
The backstop, a former 2014 draft choice of the Toronto Blue Jays, improved his standing in 2017, taken in the ninth round, 271st overall by the Houston Astros, where he’ll join one-time Louisiana State University teammate Alex Bregman in the organization. Papierski was the lone player from the 2016 Border Cats drafted this week, batted .260 and bashed eight home runs in 2017, second-most on the Tigers squad.
Starter Donnie Sellers was the third former Border Cat off the board, going in the 11th round, 339th overall to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Sellers was 0-2 in 19 games during his time in Thunder Bay in 2015, with a 7.22 ERA. But he cleaned things up in college, going 3-5 for the Deacons with a 4.71 ERA in 2017.
It was 11 rounds before another former Cat heard his name called.
Cole Stapler, who pitched for Thunder Bay in 2015, went in the 22nd round to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He posted a 4-2 record in his sole season with the Cats.
A round later it was Malik Jones's turn. Jones made just three appearances on the mound for Thunder Bay in 2015, allowing no runs on four hits in two innings.
The Missouri Baptist College right-hander will now try to work his way through the Oakland A’s system after going 3-0 in six starts with a 3.60 ERA for the Spartans this year.
A few hundred kilometres south, the San Diego Padres dipped into the Border Cats well to grab shortstop Matthew Batten, a mainstay of the 2015 Northwoods League team.
Batten, who hit .230 in 69 games for Thunder Bay, was the 948th player chosen in the draft, going in the 32nd round, after batting .305 for the Quinnipiac Bobcats to lead the team.
The final former Border Cats player off the board was Tyler Coolbaugh, snagged in the 36th round, the No. 1,088 player taken, by the Orioles.
A shortstop out of Angelo State University, Coolbaugh hit just .175 for the Border Cats in 23 appearances in 2015, but led his college team with a .374 average this season, hitting three home runs and driving in 43 in 53 games.
Since 2013, a total of 34 Border Cats players have been taken in the MLB draft.
