ASU’s Deven Marrero selected by Red Sox in first round
Jun 4, 2012, 11:31 PM | Updated: Jun 5, 2012, 4:42 am
Arizona State shortstop Deven Marrero was selected in the
first round of the 2012 MLB First Year Player Draft by the Boston Red Sox with the 24th overall pick Monday evening.
Marrero, 21, batted .284 as a junior for the Sun Devils
with 4 home runs and 33 runs batted in. For his three-year career in Tempe, the Davie, Florida native hit .325 with 12 homers and 95 runs batted in over 150 games (145 starts).
But what makes Marrero such a coveted prospect is his
glove. Marrero was named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year in 2011, and was a two-time First Team All-Conference selection (2011, 2012).
“Whether it’s big hits or big plays, Deven’s always in the mix when good things happen,” ASU head coach Tim Esmay said. “Not too often do you get to coach someone like that in your career, and not just from a baseball standpoint. He’s a great human being and a great young man.”
Marrero was a 17th-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds out of American Heritage School in Plantation, Florida in June of 2009, but opted to honor his scholarship to Arizona State.
“There are concerns about his offensive game, but there
are no concerns about his defense,” Jonathan Mayo recently said about Marrero on MLB.com. “And there’s something to be said about a player who can play a premium position like that plus across the board — plus glove, plus range, plus arm. He can do it all defensively.
“You could probably put him in a big league infield right
now and he’d be just fine.”
Marrero is the third Sun Devil drafted by the Red Sox organization in the past 10 years.
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