Two Huskies, One Signee Selected in MLB Draft

The 2021 MLB First-Year Player Draft wrapped up on Tuesday afternoon, with three members of the Washington baseball program seeing their names selected. The 20-round draft was half the length of the usual 40-round affair due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Tyson Guerrero (Chehalis, Wash.) was the first Husky to have his name come off the board, as he was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 12th round with the 349th overall pick. Guerrero arrived at UW for the 2021 season after spending 2019 as a two-way player at Washington State and 2020 at Lower Columbia Community College. 

Guerrero pitched in 11 games (all starts) on the season and led the Huskies with a 2.96 ERA, which was third among qualified pitchers in the Pac-12. Seven of his 11 starts were against Pac-12 opponents. In six of his starts, he struck out at least five batters, including three straight games with seven strikeouts in April. 

He showed an ability to lengthen himself out as the season progressed, throwing at least 100 pitches in four of his final five starts and going at least 5.0 innings in his last seven starts. 

Guerrero's best outing of the season came in his final game at Husky Ballpark against Utah on May 22. He threw a season-high 6.1 innings on 102 pitches and did not give up a run, striking out seven Utes while allowing just three hits and two walks to earn the win. Guerrero tossed a season-high 111 pitches across 5.2 innings in his final start of the season at Washington State on May 28, earning his second straight win to close out the season with a 3-3 record. 

Braiden Ward (Merced, Calif.) was the next Husky off the board, as he was selected in the 16th round with the 470th overall pick by the Colorado Rockies. Ward has been an every day player for four seasons at UW, starting 50 games as a freshman on the 2018 College World Series team. He has played in 174 games in his Washington career, making 163 starts. He was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team in 2021 and Pac-12 Honorable Mention in 2019.

Ward is the only player in Pac-12 history to lead the conference in stolen bases four straight seasons (he is also the only player to accomplish this feat three times). He is second all-time at UW with 89 stolen bases. Additionally, his 39 hit-by-pitches are third all-time and his 10 triples are fourth all-time in program history. A career .301 hitter, Ward has amassed 189 hits, 124 runs scored, 30 doubles, 10 triples and three home runs in his career as a Husky. 

In his senior season, Ward was the only UW player to appear in all 50 games, with 49 starts (34 CF, 13 2B, 2 SS) and led the Pac-12 and was fourth nationally with a career-high 34 stolen bases. He also led the Huskies with 34 runs, 55 hits and 16 HBP. His .378 OBP, .752 OPS and 73 total bases were all good for second on the team. He reached base safely in each of the first 20 games of the season, while also recording 10 games with multiple stolen bases and 14 multi-hit games. 

Micah Bucknam (Abbotsford, B.C.) was picked by the Toronto Blue Jays 12 spots after Ward in the 16th round (482nd overall). A pitcher out of British Columbia, Canada, Bucknam is signed as a member of Washington's 2021 recruiting class. 

Bucknam was selected to the World Team for  2020 International Week at the Future Stars Series and was a standout in Georgia at the PBR Future Games and with Baseball BC at the Canada Cup in 2019.

Draft Notes

• 2021 marks the 10th straight year that Washington has had at least one player drafted, despite both the 2020 and 2021 drafts being shortened.
• Guerrero and Ward are the 41st and 42nd MLB draft picks to have played under head coach Lindsay Meggs at Washington.
• This year also marks the 10th different draft (out of 12) since Meggs took over that has seen multiple Washington players drafted.
• Before Tyson Guerrero, the last Washington player to be drafted by the Royals was Robert Pehl (Round 11, pick 333) in 2014, who is from the same city (Chehalis, Wash.) and high school (W.F. West) as Guerrero.
• Ward would join former UW teammate Willie MacIver in the Rockies organization. Both were key members of the 2018 College World Series team. MacIver was just promoted to Hartford (AA) after a strong start to the season with Spokane (A+).