The Angels selected 10 more pitchers with their 17 picks on the second day of the MLB draft, but they started Monday by selecting Louisville third baseman Jake Munroe with the 109th overall pick in the fourth round.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Munroe slashed .346/.451/.593 with 13 home runs, 13 doubles and 61 RBIs in his only season at Louisville after two seasons at Logan Community College in Illinois. He was named to the all-tournament team at the College World Series last month.
Combined with the four pitchers they selected on Sunday, the Angels ended up with 14 pitchers (four left-handers) among their 21 total picks, to go with three outfielders, two third basemen, a shortstop and a second baseman.
Of their 21 total selections, nine players came from high school programs, including left-handers Talon Haley (12th round) and Xavier Mitchell (13th round). The 6-2 Haley, a Vanderbilt commit from Lewisburg, Mississippi, is a cancer survivor (non-Hodgkin lymphoma) who has already had two Tommy John surgeries. The 6-3 Mitchell is a Texas commit from Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas. He pitched for the U.S. 18-and-under national team last summer but was shut down this season with shoulder fatigue.
After selecting Munroe, the Angels went back to pitching in the fifth round, taking 6-2 high school right-hander CJ Gray (140th overall) from Kannapolis, North Carolina. The N.C. State commit had scholarship offers to play quarterback at several mid-major programs and has a power sinker that reaches 96 mph to go with a slider and a solid changeup.
After selecting 6-4 right-hander Luke Lacourse from Auburn, Michigan, in the sixth round (No. 169 overall), the Angels grabbed Clemson sidearm specialist Lucas Mahlstedt in the seventh (No 199 overall). The 6-3 right-hander was the Tigers’ closer as a senior.
The Angels selected Arizona State outfielder Isaiah Jackson (No. 229) in the eighth round and Georgia third baseman Slate Alford in the ninth round (No. 259). The 6-3 Alford had a big senior season for the Bulldogs, slashing .331/.440/.649 with 19 home runs, 16 doubles and 63 RBIs in 60 games.
Missouri State second baseman Nick Rodriguez was their 10th-round pick (No. 289). The left-handed hitter slashed .368/.444/.702 with 18 homers, 22 doubles and 56 RBIs on his way to Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors.
After that, it was 6-5 Georgia lefty Alton Davis II in the 11th round, Haley and Mitchel in the 12th and 13th, high school outfielder TJ Ford (Trinity Christian School, Georgia) in the 14th round and 6-2 high school right-hander and South Florida commit Mikey Cascino (A3 Academy in Flordia) in the 15th. He threw a 17-strikeout no-hitter this past season.
The Angels selected speedy Florida State outfielder Gage Harrelson in the 16th round, 6-4 high school righty Cole Raymond (Avon Old Farms School, Connecticut) in the 17th, 6-foot UCF right-hander Angelo Smith in the 18th round, high school shortstop Ivan Tatis (Georgia Premier Academy) in the 19th round and 6-5 college right-hander Sam Tookoian (Mississippi) in the 20th round.