Missouri State junior Jeremy Eierman was selected in the second round (Competitive Balance B) of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Monday evening, as the Oakland Athletics nabbed the shortstop with the 70th overall pick.
After helping lead the Bears to back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference titles and NCAA Regional appearances in each of the last two seasons, Eierman becomes the 14th Bear to be taken in the top 10 rounds of the MLB Draft over the last decade.
Eierman is a two-time All-America selection, earning first-team honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game USA following a breakthrough 2017 campaign for the Bears, both at the plate and in the middle of the MSU infield as one of the MVC’s top defenders. He became the third Bear in the last six seasons to be named the NCBWA’s District VI most outstanding player and was a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award honoring the nation’s top shortstop, as well as a semifinalist for the NCBWA’s Dick Howser Trophy.
A unanimous preseason All-America choice this spring, Eierman earned All-MVC honors for a second-straight year, hitting .287 with 10 homers, 49 RBIs and 21 stolen bases during the 2018 season. The Warsaw, Mo., native became the Bears’ first 40-40 club member with 43 stolen bases and 42 home runs for his MSU career, both of which rank among MSU’s all-time top 10 individual totals.
Overall, the Bears have produced 140 players who have gone on to sign professional contracts over their 55 years as a varsity program, including 121 during Keith Guttin’s 36-year tenure as head coach.
The 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft will continue through Wednesday (June 6). MLB.com will also provide live pick-by-pick coverage of Rounds 3-10 on Tuesday (June 5), starting at 12 p.m. (CT), and rounds 11-40 can be heard live on MLB.com on Wednesday, beginning at 11 a.m. (CT).
