THE FLATS – Three Georgia Tech baseball players heard their names called on Monday afternoon as they were selected in the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft, marking the 41st-consecutive year the Yellow Jackets have produced a selection and 21st-straight year Tech has had multiple picks.
Junior Luke Waddell was selected in the fifth round (No. 157 overall) by the Atlanta Braves, sophomore Justyn-Henry Malloy was selected in the sixth round (No. 187 overall) by the Braves as well and junior Brant Hurter was selected in the seventh round (No. 195 overall) by the Detroit Tigers.
Helping lead the Yellow Jackets to its second-consecutive ACC Coastal Division Championship, Waddell was one of just two to start and play in all 56 games in 2021. The second-year captain hit .309 for the season as one of the nation’s best table setters with 71 hits, 12 doubles, a triple and eight home runs for 33 RBI. En route to being named first-team all-ACC, the Loveland, Ohio native was one of the toughest hitters to strikeout out in the country, leading the ACC and ranking sixth nationally at 14.4 at-bats per strikeout. He finished his college career on fire, hitting .354 over the last two months of the season.
For his career, Waddell finished with the eighth-most assists (421) at Georgia Tech since 2002 and finished a career-.308 hitter in 172 games and 161 starts after hitting .300 in each of his final three years. He reached base .407 and stole 15 bases and finished with a .953 fielding percentage.
In just his first year after transferring to Georgia Tech, Malloy made a huge impact at third base for the Yellow Jackets en route to being selected third-team all-ACC. The Bergenfield, N.J., native is third on the team, currently hitting .308 with 11 home runs and 43 RBI. In addition to his power, Malloy also co-led the ACC with 46 walks – good for 21st in the country. To go along with his SportsCenter Top 10 plays at third, he was also clutch at the plate, hitting the walk-off home run to defeat Clemson and the walk-off sac fly to down archrival Georgia in the 14th-inning.
After recovering from Tommy John Surgery in 2019 and missing the shortened 2020 season, Hurter stepped in to be Georgia Tech’s Friday night ace in 2021 and led the starters with a 3.90 ERA over 15 starts and 81.1 innings of work. En route to being named a second-team all-ACC member, the Canton, Ga. native allowed just 37 earned runs on the year and struck out a team-high 83 batters, walking just 19. He also held hitters to a .253 average on the year.
For his career, Hurter ranks fifth since 2002 at Tech in strikeouts per nine innings at 9.46 and ninth in fewest walks per nine innings at 2.69. In 35 starts over 39 appearances, Hurter recorded 12 victories and a 4.13 ERA. He struck out 197 batters at a 3.5:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Tech’s selections mark the 41st-straight season in which a Georgia Tech student-athlete has been taken in the MLB Draft, a streak that began in 1981 with the selection of first baseman Tommy Thompson by the Kansas City Royals.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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