Ragin’ Cajun SS Hayden Cantrelle Drafted In 5th Round by Milwaukee Brewers
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns shorstop and Teurlings alum Hayden Cantrelle was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers 151st overall in the 5th round of the MLB draft on Thursday night.
In 2019 as a sophomore, Cantrelle batted .309 with nine home runs and 15 doubles in 236 at-bats over 59 games.
His bat heated up as the season progressed during both his freshmen and sophomore seasons.
While he was only batting .136 in 17 games this year before the season was cut short due to COVID-19, the previous seasons suggest his bat was waiting to explode.
In the field, the All-Sun Belt shortstop is elite.
“We are very excited and happy for Hayden,” Louisiana head coach Matt Deggs said in a press release. “He had an outstanding career here at Louisiana and we will certainly miss seeing No. 5 out at shortstop. He is a sure-fire professional that I would expect to play for a long time. He has a little bit of everything that you look for: he can run, he can defend, he can hit, he switch hit and he has one of the highest baseball IQ’s I have seen for a player of his age.”
Following his high school career at Teurlings, Cantrelle was drafted in the 40th round of the 2017 draft by the Yankees, but chose to attend UL. That decision appears to have been a smart one, as he's now in line earn a much bigger first contract.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 MLB Draft was a shortened two-day, five-round, 160-player draft.
All undrafted players can only get a maximum $20,000. MLB's approximate value for the 151st pick is $353,700, which is negotiable.
Cantrelle told Tim Buckley of The Advertiser he plans to sign with Milwaukee.
He started 135 consecutive times during his Ragin' Cajun career, never missing a game.
"As good as a player as he is on the field, he is an even better young man off of it,” Deggs added. “Hayden is a tremendous student and always eager to help and serve. He was on our SAAC committee and one of our team leaders. Hayden represented the Cajuns in a first-class manner and I know he will make Cajun Nation even more proud in the future.”