UO release – EUGENE, Ore. – Sophomore outfielder Aaron Zavala and junior pitchers Robert Ahlstrom and Cullen Kafka were all selected on day two of the 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Monday. The Texas Rangers selected Zavala with the second pick of the second round, while the New York Yankees made Ahlstrom a seventh-round selection and the Colorado Rockies grabbed Kafka in the ninth round. Zavala was the 38th overall pick, the highest selection of a position player in the modern era of Oregon Baseball. He was picked 52 spots higher than Spencer Steer, who went 90th overall to the Minnesota Twins in the 2019 draft. He is also the third-highest Ducks’ draft pick in the modern era, behind first-round picks Tyler Anderson (2011) and David Peterson (2017). Zavala is the third Ducks player selected by the Rangers, joining Cole Wiper (10th round, 2013) and Scott Heineman (11th round, 2015). Zavala is the third Oregon player picked in the second round of the MLB Draft. He joins Ryne Nelson who was the 56th player drafted (Arizona Diamondbacks) in 2019 and Madison Boer who was the 87th player selected (Minnesota Twins) in 2011. Ahlstrom was the 213 overall selection. The Eugene native is the fourth Oregon player selected by the Yankees. Dennis Baldridge, who was picked by New York in both the 1965 draft and the 1966 secondary draft, was the first Yankee selection from Oregon. Tom Dodd, a first round pick in the 1980 January Secondary Draft, and Porter Clayton, a 21st round pick in the 2014 draft, where also selected by the Yankees. Kafka was the 260th overall selection. The four-year letterman is the fourth Oregon player picked by the Rockies, joining Erick Stavart (7th Round, 2009), Tyler Anderson (1st Round, 2011) and Aaron Jones (18th Round, 2012). He is the 19th Ducks’ pitcher drafted in the top 10 rounds and the 35th overall.
