Braves Draft Long in Seventh Round
7/10/2023 5:10:00 PM | Baseball
NL leaders take Owls' reliever
After just one season on the mound, Rice junior pitcher Justin Long was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the seventh round of the 2023 MLB Draft on Monday.
Long started 71 games for the Owls at catcher in his first two seasons on South Main, but made the conversion to pitcher during the fall. He made 21 appearances in his first year on the mound, including a pair of starts, and was 3-4 with a 4.93 ERA and 1.29 WHIP.
He worked a season-long 4.2 innings in relief at #2 Stanford on February 25 in his second career appearance (4.2,4,0,0,0,3) and followed that with 2.2 scoreless innings in relief vs. Texas Tech on March 3 to earn his first career win. He fanned a season-high five in a relief outing vs. DBU on April 30.
Long was 3-3 with a 2.86 ERA in nine relief outings on the road (22, 19, 9, 7, 4, 19) and held lefthanded hitters to a .218 batting average (12x55).
He is the first Owl to be selected by the Braves since they selected pitcher Dana Davis in the 17th round of the 1996 draft.
The final 10 rounds of the 2023 draft will begin at 1 p.m. central on Tuesday with coverage on MLB.com.
Long started 71 games for the Owls at catcher in his first two seasons on South Main, but made the conversion to pitcher during the fall. He made 21 appearances in his first year on the mound, including a pair of starts, and was 3-4 with a 4.93 ERA and 1.29 WHIP.
He worked a season-long 4.2 innings in relief at #2 Stanford on February 25 in his second career appearance (4.2,4,0,0,0,3) and followed that with 2.2 scoreless innings in relief vs. Texas Tech on March 3 to earn his first career win. He fanned a season-high five in a relief outing vs. DBU on April 30.
Long was 3-3 with a 2.86 ERA in nine relief outings on the road (22, 19, 9, 7, 4, 19) and held lefthanded hitters to a .218 batting average (12x55).
He is the first Owl to be selected by the Braves since they selected pitcher Dana Davis in the 17th round of the 1996 draft.
The final 10 rounds of the 2023 draft will begin at 1 p.m. central on Tuesday with coverage on MLB.com.
Players Mentioned
RHP
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