Three Tigers Go In Major League Baseball Amateur Draft

June 5, 2000

CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson had three baseball players taken on the first day of Major League Baseball’s Amateur Draft on Monday. Tigers’ center fielder Patrick Boyd and pitchers Ryan Mottl and Scott Berney all were drafted.

Boyd was the first Tiger selected going in the fourth round. He was drafted 119th overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The junior from Palm Harbor, FL is batting .290 after starting in all of Clemson’s 66 games. He has 74 hits, including 19 doubles, four triples and two home runs. As a sophomore, Boyd led the Tigers with a .390 batting average and 17 home runs.

The Cincinnati Reds made Mottl their sixth round pick, taking him 183rd overall. The right-handed pitcher from Florissant, MO owns a 9-3 record and 3.44 earned run average as a senior. In 18 starts so far, he has pitched 102.0 innings and given up 92 hits and 45 runs, 39 earned. He has surrendered just two home runs this season. He leads the team in strikeouts with 80.

The only other Tiger to be drafted in the first 20 rounds was Berney. Berney, a right-handed pitcher from Hamden, CT and a transfer from the University of Connecticut, was selected in the 18th round by the Colorado Rockies. Berney leads Clemson with a 3.39 ERA to go with a 9-3 record in 17 starts. He has pitched 106.1 innings this season and has given up 96 hits and 42 runs, 40 of which have been earned.

The 50-round draft continues on Tuesday before concluding on Wednesday.