June 9, 2015
MLB Draft Central
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Missouri State juniors Tate Matheny and Matt Hall became the second and third Bears to be selected in the 2015 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Tuesday. The Boston Red Sox took Matheny in the fourth round with the 111th overall pick, before the Detroit Tigers chose Hall 190th overall in the sixth round. The duo joins junior pitcher Jon Harris, who was selected 29th in the opening round by Toronto Monday evening, on the Bears' list of 2015 draftees.
A three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference performer, Matheny repeated as a First-Team All-MVC choice this spring by hitting .291 with five home runs and a career-high 43 runs batted-in while starting all 61 games in center field. The junior was solid in the field as well, registering a .994 fielding percentage to earn his second-consecutive MVC All-Defensive Team nod. The St. Louis native ranks 18th on MSU's career hits list with 217, while his season total of 12 steals, 37 walks and 18 hit by pitches all rank among the top 10 in the conference this year.
For his career, Matheny has started all 169 games and is the Bears' active leader in hits, runs scored (127), doubles (41), RBIs (106), home runs (19), total bases (325), steals (23) and hit by pitch (29). He led all MVC batters with 35 hits in league play as a junior to earn ABCA All-Midwest Region honors. As a freshman in 2013, Matheny was named MSU's Team MVP and a Freshman All-American by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball, and last summer became the sixth Bear selected to compete for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team.
Hall, the Division I strikeout leader entering the College World Series, shattered both the Bears' and MVC's single-season records for punchouts with 171 this spring. The junior from Lee's Summit, Mo., also matched a Missouri State record with 12 victories, while his 2.02 ERA was the best among all Valley starting pitchers. He logged seven double-digit strikeout totals in his 16 starts and led the league with 125.0 innings pitched, which also represents a new MSU single-season high. Hall's 12.31 strikeout-per-9.0 innings pitched rate is not only the top mark in the country, but also the best in school history, while his 275 career strikeouts is third in Missouri State history.
The left-hander became the ninth Bear in the 52-year history of the Missouri State program to earn first-team All-America honors with his selection by Collegiate Baseball. Hall turned in a streak of 32.0 consecutive scoreless innings as part of the Bears' school-record 19-game win streak and his 2.66 career earned run average ranks eighth all-time at MSU. He struck out 15 batters in a May 2 win over Wichita State before capping his season with a memorable complete-game one-hitter of Arkansas this past weekend to force a third and deciding game at the Fayetteville Super Regional.
Under the terms of Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement, professional clubs must sign a drafted player by Friday, July 17, or the rights to that player are lost and he may re-enter the draft in 2016.
The 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft concludes Wednesday at 11 a.m. (Central) with rounds 11-40.
