Arizona's Aaron Walton Shocks the MLB Draft

Sunday was a busy night for Arizona baseball in the MLB Draft with outfielder Brendan Summer getting selected in the first round with the No. 42 overall pick to the Tampa Bay Rays making him the 22nd first rounder in program history.

However, the night wasn’t done there and despite being projected as the No. 161 overall prospect in this draft, Wildcats’ outfielder Aaron Walton was selected in the second round with the No. 66 overall pick by the Cleveland Guardians.

What is interesting is that before the draft, D1 Baseball’s David Seifert was breaking down Walton’s game and had him as a second round pick.

“The guy I would probably pick in the second [round] who hasn’t received as much attention as he deserves is Aaron Walton from Arizona, Seifert said. “I just think the world of this guy. He has tools. He’s a Mike Trout looking dude that plays center field like Trout. He can throw, he can run, he’s got power. He takes bat to ball. I mean, I don’t know what else we’re looking for.”

It turns out that Cleveland agrees with Seifert’s viewpoint and was the team that fell in love with the highly talented prospect taking him three rounds ahead of his pre-draft projection.

In just one season with the program, Walton played in 65 games totaling 253 at-bats where he had 81 hits for a batting average of .320 to go along with his 14 home runs and 49 RBI for Arizona.

Walton helped  the Wildcats go on a postseason run where they got hot and made their way to the College World Series with the season coming to a close after going 0-2 against Coastal Carolina and Louisville.

It was the first time under Chip Hale that the program was able to make it to Omaha. That snapped a four-year drought for the Wildcats marking their first trip to the CWS since the 2021 season.

Now, he’s got a long way to go in terms of minor league ball and trying to make it to the Major League level but if the Guardians can unlock Walton’s full potential then Seifert’s comparison to Trout won’t seem odd.

If there was any hope of Walton coming back for another season with Arizona, that is long gone with him being selected No. 66 by Cleveland, which brings him one step closer at making his MLB dream a reality.

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