Baseball: In less than a month, this standout trio fulfilled MLB dreams

Mike Shawaryn, Zac Gallen and Devin Smeltzer each made their MLB debuts within a few weeks of each other. (NJ Advance Media file photos, AP file photo)

Mike Shawaryn, Zac Gallen and Devin Smeltzer each made their MLB debuts within a few weeks of each other. (NJ Advance Media file photos, AP file photo)

The 2016 MLB Draft has turned into something special for South Jersey baseball.

That June, nine players with ties to the region found themselves selected - four high school seniors and five from the college ranks.

In the last month, three of those players - two former high school teammates, the third playing for one of their biggest rivals - made their Major League debuts.

It started on May 28 with Devin Smeltzer, a 2014 Bishop Eustace graduate, pitching six shutout innings with seven strikeouts for the Minnesota Twins. The left-hander was a fifth-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers out of San Jacinto (TX) Junior College but was dealt to the Twins at the trade deadline last summer.

Less than two weeks later, 2013 Gloucester Catholic grad Mike Shawaryn made his debut with the Boston Red Sox. The right-hander, a fifth-round pick out of Maryland, pitched two innings of relief against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 7. He struck out four that day, retiring the side in the ninth inning.

The latest came Thursday night when Zac Gallen, a 2013 Bishop Eustace grad, struck out six over five innings for the Miami Marlins but didn't figure in the decision against the team that drafted him. The right-hander, who was taken out of North Carolina, was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round and traded in December of 2017 as part of a deal that sent Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis.

"It's been kinda cool to see the progression, not only for myself but for those guys, too," said Gallen, who is scheduled to make his second start Wednesday against the Washington Nationals in what will be his home debut. "Anytime a South Jersey guy is working for the same dream, you root for them.

"This puts South Jersey on the map a little more, even though it's been on the map for a while with (Mike) Trout. It shows the rest of the world that there's some really good talent (in South Jersey). It's a testament to the talent we have, the schedule that we played in high school."

Gallen struck out two batters in his debut inning, getting six-time All-Star Paul Goldschmidt on a filthy slider to end the first.

"I talked to Devin on Wednesday and then Thursday before the game a little bit. He told me to try and take it all in, and once I was between the lines to get back to business," Gallen said. "I let it hit me and then I just started playing catch, but there were definitely a few times in the game when you look around, take a mental picture."

SOUTH JERSEY'S 2016 DRAFT CLASS

HIGH SCHOOL PICKS
• Tyler Mondile, RHP, Gloucester Catholic, Cincinnati Reds, sixth round (168 overall)
• Kenny Mendoza, LHP, Clearview, Texas Rangers, 24th round (729 overall)
• Blake Ebo, OF, Trenton Catholic (Lumberton), Toronto Blue Jays, 28th round (852 overall)
• Adam Laskey, LHP, Haddon Heights, San Francisco Giants, 31st round (935 overall)

COLLEGE PICKS
• Zac Gallen, RHP, Bishop Eustace/North Carolina, St. Louis Cardinals, third round (106 overall)
• Mike Shawaryn, RHP, Gloucester Catholic/Maryland, Boston Red Sox, fifth round (148 overall)
• Devin Smeltzer, LHP, Bishop Eustace/San Jacinto JC, Los Angeles Dodgers, fifth round (161 overall)
• Nick Sciortino, C, Haddon Heights/Boston College, Boston Red Sox, 17th round (508 overall)
• Troy Sieber, 1B, Salem/St. Leo, Houston Astros, 24th round (727 overall)

Shawaryn, who was first taken out of Gloucester Catholic in the 32nd round of the 2013 draft by the Kansas City Royals, believes the trio shares a competitive fire that began to burn in high school.

"When we were in high school, our schools hated each other. We respected each other, but we were competitive," Shawaryn said. "That's something that's common and links us - we are all very competitive, very hard workers and at the end of the day we have that South Jersey pride.

"It's really cool. We didn't grow up together but we went through the same stuff, just on different paths. To achieve that goal, to get that call and all do it within a month is definitely pretty cool."

Other South Jersey products to wear a Major League uniform this season include Mike Trout (Millville, Los Angeles Angels), Sean Doolittle (Shawnee, Washington Nationals), Mark Zagunis (Holy Cross, Chicago Cubs), Ryan Buchter (Highland, Oakland A's) and Heath Fillmyer (Florence, Kansas City Royals).

Brett Kennedy (Atlantic City, San Diego Padres) started the season on the disabled list with a lat strain and was recently placed on the 60-day DL.

RELATED: 2019 high school postseason honors

There are also a host of South Jersey natives working their way up the ladder. Players on the MLB.com 2019 Prospect Watch, who were each drafted as high school seniors, includes:

• Buddy Kennedy, Millville: A third baseman, Kennedy was taken in the fifth round of the 2017 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He's No. 18.

• Nick Decker, Seneca: An outfielder, Decker is No. 10 on the Boston Red Sox list. He was taken in the second round of the 2018 draft.

• Tyler Phillips, Bishop Eustace: A right-hander, Phillips is No. 13 on the list for the Texas Rangers. He was taken in the 16th round of the 2015 draft.

Including Trout, who was taken in the first round by the Angels, 32 South Jersey players have been drafted out of high school since 2009.

"As a little kid, you say it's your dream to one day be a professional baseball player," Shawaryn said. "It's way beyond that. It's been a whirlwind, a crazy-good whirlwind.

"To make the big leagues is cool. To see the three of us make it to the big leagues and have all played together in the same time frame during high school is pretty neat. It's one of those things where you take a step back and soak it all in. ... We're all each other's biggest fans at this point. It seems like yesterday we were in South Jersey on a baseball field, not on different teams and in the bigs."

Kevin Minnick focuses on South Jersey and can be reached at kminnick@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @kminnicksports. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.

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