June 11, 2009
Baines drafted by White Sox in 45th round
WESTMINSTER, Md. – Harold Baines, Jr. (St. Michaels, Md./St. Michaels), a senior on the McDaniel College baseball team, has been drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 45th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft on Thursday.
Baines, a two-year starter for the Green Terror, becomes the first
player taken from McDaniel in the 45 years of the draft. Drafted as
a left fielder with the 1,363rd overall pick, he will
attempt to become the sixth player in program history to play
professional baseball.
Former Green Terror pitcher Mike Draper is the only other player
with ties to the program to be selected. Draper, who played for
then-Western Maryland for one season (1985), was drafted by the New
York Yankees in 1988 from George Mason. Draper had 29 appearances
on the mound for the New York Mets in 1993.
Stan Benjamin, Larry Boener and Glenn McQuillen all played Major
League Baseball before the draft was instituted in
1965.
John Vandernat spent the 2002 season playing for the
Springfield/Ozark Mountain Ducks of the Central Baseball League, an
independent league.
Baines, a second-team All-Centennial Conference selection in 2009,
had a .349 batting average in his two seasons at McDaniel. He
finished with 88 base hits, including a program-record 48 in 2009.
He also matched the program record with 11 doubles as a senior
while adding three home runs for a .531 slugging percentage. His 34
runs scored in 2009 paced the team. He ranked second on the squad
with 26 RBIs. For his career, he had 47 RBIs, 55 runs scored, 17
doubles, five triples and three home runs after transferring from
Randolph-Macon prior to the 2008 season.
Baines will attempt to follow in his father’s footsteps and
don a major league uniform. Baines, Sr. played 22 years in Major
League Baseball, including 14 with the White Sox, where is in his
fourth season on the coaching staff and second as the first-base
coach. The elder Baines, a six-time all-star, had a .289 career
batting average with 384 home runs and 1,628 RBIs.
-30-
