CM grad, 2011 LLWS star Garbrick drafted by New York Yankees
Eight summers ago, Alex Garbrick helped pitch the Keystone Little League team to the Little League World Series as the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Regional champions, becoming the first area district team to get to the World Series since Newberry did so in 1969.
This week, he got drafted to Major League Baseball to continue his baseball career.
Garbrick, a Central Mountain grad, was drafted by the New York Yankees with the 1,215th pick, going in the 40th round out of Morehead State.
“It’s great for Alex to get drafted. After missing last year to injury, he put a lot of hard work in to get back on the field,” Morehead State coach Mike McGuire said. “I’m really happy for him and I believe he is just beginning to scratch the surface of what he is capable of on the mound.”
Garbrick, who sat out the 2018 season as a medical redshirt, returned this year to help the Eagles win a school-record 40 games. He finished with 69 strikeouts in just 58 innings and made Ohio Valley Conference weekend starts in two of the final three series. His high-water mark came with a 10-strikeout effort in an eventual walk-off win against Murray State on May 5. He was also the winning pitcher in MSU’s OVC Tournament victory to eliminate Eastern Kentucky on May 24.
He finished 3-4 this year on the mound with a 4.32 earned run average.
This marks the second consecutive year an area athlete was drafted in the Major League Baseball draft, coming one year after Loyalsock grad and North Carolina star Kyle Datres was drafted by the Colorado Rockies.
Garbrick went 1-1 during that 2011 Little League World Series with a 0.78 ERA, throwing a total of 7 2/3 innings and striking out 10 batters while allowing just five hits and three walks.
He hit .538 in 13 plate appearance over five games for the Mid-Atlantic champions, collecting seven hits — including hitting two doubles — and driving in three runs.
Garbrick graduated from Central Mountain in 2016 and as a freshman at Morehead State, went 3-2 with an 8.88 ERA in 18 games.
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