2017 MLB Draft: Umass Lowell send one to Pirates

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The UMass Lowell baseball team is happy to announce that outfielder Chris Sharpe was selected in this year’s Major League Baseball draft. He was selected in the 14th round number 418 overall to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He becomes the highest Riverhawk selected since Jack Leathersich was taken in the fifth round of the 2011 draft. We will see how long it takes for him to move up the ranks in his attempt to make it to the big leagues.

Despite missing the last third of the season due to injury, Sharpe still puts up impressive numbers for the River Hawks. He batted .333 with 44 hits and 25 RBI, he tied for the team lead in doubles with 16 and also blasted seven home runs. Sharpe did lead the team in triples with four and had 89 total bases to his credit. He would finish with an on-base percentage of .432 and a slugging of .685. Those were numbers that were good enough to put him on the second team in the NEIBA All-New England team at year’s end. Not a bad year after all huh?

Sharpe recorded 12 multi-hit games, with six multi-RBI games as well. He also processed a twenty games on base streak. In the outfield, the River Hawks centerfielder boasted a fielding percentage of .978 while picking up four OF assists to his credit.

His combined numbers for his two years of playing baseball at UMass-Lowell are a .276 batting average with 83 hits, 64 runs scored, eight HRS, 44 RBI. On defense, he made only four errors and posted a fielding percentage of .979. Those numbers amount to a strong season.

This is the third straight year that the River Hawks baseball program has had at least one player taken in the draft. All in all, not a bad stat to have for your baseball team.