Three W&M Players Selected in First 10 Rounds of MLB Draft – W&M News

It was the moment they’d both dreamed of since they first put on a baseball glove. It came this week, when for the first time in program history, three William & Mary players were selected in the first 10 rounds of the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft.

As expected, right-handed pitcher Nate Knowles ’25 was the first off the board when the Tampa Bay Rays selected him in the fourth round with the 124th overall pick. Next up was left-hander Travis Garnett ’25, who was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth round (254th overall).

Left fielder Joe Delossantos ’24 made it 3-0 when the New York Yankees drafted him in the 10th round (301st overall).

Where were they when they heard the news?

Delossantos, the only fifth-year of the trio, wasn’t sure he would go on day two, so he wasn’t glued to the tracker when his name was called just after 5:30 on Monday afternoon.

“I was walking around the Outlet Mall here in Williamsburg and I was in the Nike store,” he said. “One of my former teammates, Matt McDermott (’21), texted me, ‘Boom!’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’

“So I went to check because I didn’t have the tracker and I thought my agent was going to call me. I looked and there it was. I looked at my boyfriend and we hugged for a second and then my phone just went crazy.”

Knowles and Garnett have more traditional stories.

“I thought it would be earlier on (Tuesday), so me and my family were watching the tracker and waiting for a call at the bank,” said Knowles, who was at home in Arlington. “We finally got it, and it was amazing.”

“I was at home (Pasadena, Maryland) with my family, and we were kind of following the draft,” Garnett said. “I didn’t really know what was going to happen once it started.

“Then I got a text message saying to look for the eighth round, and that would be the Diamondbacks. The rest is history.”

Selected No. 124 overall, Knowles was the fifth-highest draft pick in program history. In his junior season, he went 8-3 and led the CAA in starts (19), strikeouts (112) and opponents batting average (.179). He was named CAA Pitcher of the Year and an All-American.

According to a story on MLB.com, the Rays were impressed with Knowles’ four-pitch repertoire, including a 91-95 mph fastball.

“I don’t know how they’re going to use me in the minors, especially this first year, because I’m new to the organization,” said Knowles, who won’t turn 21 until September. “One of the things that attracted me was that they think I’m a starter. But I’d be happy to pitch anywhere, honestly.”

Knowles will be at the Rays’ training facility in Port Charlotte, Florida on Thursday. They were one of the teams that gave him good vibes in pre-draft talks.

“Really, we clicked with pitching development and an analytical approach,” he said. “I had a good relationship with them from the beginning and I always hoped they would be the team to hire me. I’m super excited because they’re one of the better teams at developing pitchers.”

Garnett, a transfer from Maryland, went 5-0 in all of his relief appearances, holding opponents to a .194 batting average and striking out 45 batters in 27.1 innings.

He’s an interesting prospect for two reasons. First, and most obvious, he’s a 6-foot-6, 225-pound left-hander.

“The scouts, a lot of what they do is projection and who they think you can be in five years versus the player you are now,” Garnett said. “I’m blessed with some God-given talents, being left-handed, big and strong. It certainly doesn’t hurt.”

The second reason is that before joining W&M last fall, he had faced just 13 batters in his career, which came during the 2023 season at Maryland after recovering from a torn ulnar collateral ligament his senior year of high school.

“That took me out for my freshman year at Maryland,” said Garnett, who underwent Tommy John surgery. “When I came back (in 2023), I struggled with my command and getting things back on track. But I found a good place at William & Mary.

“I had some buzz in high school, I guess, about the potential of getting drafted. But without this season at William & Mary, and without my teammates and my coaches, the draft obviously wouldn’t have been a reality for me.”

Garnett was scheduled to fly to Scottsdale, Arizona, on Wednesday.

Delossantos was the only player in the CAA to rank in the top 11 in batting average (.330), home runs (14), RBI (67) and stolen bases (17) in the conference statistics. He started 57 games in left field last spring after starting 55 games in center field the year before.

“They’d rather keep me on the corners, whether it’s left or right,” Delossantos said, referring to the Yankees. “Center field would be in trouble if someone got hurt.”

Delossantos, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, was scheduled to board a plane to Tampa on Wednesday morning.

“Everything is moving pretty fast,” he said. “I even called Stewart Smothers, who is the scout for the area and the one who submitted me. He called me (Monday) night and said, ‘I want you to have fun with your family, but we want you here Wednesday.’

“I’m probably going to do a couple of weeks of instruction. I’m an older guy, so my clock’s been started for a while. I need to do my thing, do my job really well, so I can move forward as quickly as possible.”

Dave Johnson, W&M Athletics