The Road To The Major Leagues Begins Now For These Former Rafters

Eight former Wisconsin Rapids Rafters keep their hopes of playing in the Major Leagues alive after being drafted this past weekend in the 2014 MLB First-Year Player draft.

The highest former Rafter drafted was Brandon Downes out of Virginia who was drafted in the 7th round (213th overall) by the Kansas City Royals. Here is a list of other former Rafters that were drafted this past weekend:

Pat Kelly (Nebraska)-12th Round (350th overall) Minnesota Twins

Tyler Willman (Western Illinois)-12th Round (372nd overall) Oakland Athletics

Greg Maisto (McLennan Community College)-16th Round (487th overall) Tampa Bay Rays

JP Feyereisen (UW-Stevens Point)-16th Round (488th overall) Cleveland Indians

Ronnie Muck (Illinois) – 30th Round (899 overall) Los Angeles Angels

Nestor Bautista (Ball State) – 32nd Round (947 overall) Miami Marlins

Also of note, 2014 Rafter signee Scott Williams out of the State College of Florida-Sarasota was drafted in the 11th Round (336th overall) by the Texas Rangers.

The Rafters would like to wish the best of luck to all of these players and to all 176 players that were drafted out of the Northwoods League in total this year.

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The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award Winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube Channel. For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.com.