St. Cloud Rox Celebrate Record-Breaking MLB Draft with Seven Players Selected, Including Historic Third Overall Pick

(KNSI) – Seven current and former St. Cloud Rox players will get a shot at their dreams after getting picked during the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft.

Rox co-owner Scott Schreiner was on KNSI and is proud of the players moving on to the big leagues. “It’s a really good number. And that’s why they’re with us. They get that opportunity.”

The three-day draft started Sunday, where former Rox All-Star Charlie Condon was drafted with the third overall pick by the Colorado Rockies. Condon is the highest selection ever for a Northwoods League player. He played for the Rox in 2022. In that time, he appeared in 65 games, had a .294 batting average, 73 runs batted in and hit ten home runs.

Schreiner explained that professional teams looking to draft a guy want to know more than their stats. “Major league teams, believe it or not, they’re reaching out to me. They invested about $10 million in Charlie being a first round draft pick and they want to know everything about him. Well, of course, they know everything on the field. They’re asking me how was he with his host family? How was he with his teammates? How was he with signing autographs? All those things off the field that they want to know everything about.”

Condon is the fourth former Rox player to be drafted in the first round. The other were Will Craig (2016), Michael Busch (2019), and Brice Matthews (2023).

Other players that heard their name called during the MLB draft
include:

The Tampa Bay Rays selected Janzen Keisel with the 186th pick in the 6th round. Keisel played for the Rox in 2022, appearing in eight games. He pitched 17.2 innings with 27 strikeouts and a 2.04 ERA.

Connor Wietgrefe played for the Rox in 2023 and was a key pitcher in their playoff run to the Northwoods League Championship. The Pittsburg Pirates drafted him with the 204th pick in the seventh round. Wietgrefe pitched 18.2 innings with 31 strikeouts and a 2.89 ERA in the regular season for the Rox.

Micah Ashman pitched for the Rox in 2023 and was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 11th round with the 326th pick. Ashman pitched five innings for the Rox, struck out nine batters, and didn’t allow a single earned run. In every game Ashman pitched for the Rox last year, the Rox were victorious.

Andrew Morones pitched for the Rox in 2021 and again in 2023. Over that time, he pitched in 27 games and had a 3-1 record with two saves. He pitched 40 innings and had 40 strikeouts. Morones was selected with the 467th pick in the 16th round by the Kansas City Royals.

Brandt Thompson is currently on the roster and was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 501st pick in the 17th round. Thompson started in five games for the Rox this summer and has a 2-1 record. He has pitched 24 innings with 30 strikeouts and a 3.00 ERA.

Ryan Jackson was a part of the 2022 Rox roster. He appeared in 31 games for the Rox, where he had three doubles, one home run, and ten runs batted in. He also walked 23 times. The San Diego Padres drafted him with the 510th pick in the 17th round.

The Rox now have a league-high 93 players taken over the years in the MLB draft.

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