Two juniors on the North Carolina baseball team, Michael Busch and Tyler Baum, were drafted on the first day of the MLB Draft on Monday. Busch was selected 31st overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Baum was taken 66th overall by the Oakland Athletics.
Busch, an Inver Grove Heights, Minn., native, became the 23rd Tar Heel in team history taken in the first or supplemental round of the MLB Draft. This season, he is tied with first-year Aaron Sabato for the team lead in home runs with 16, and earned first team All-ACC honors for the second straight year while batting .281 in the regular season.
He was also named the 2019 ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player after helping the Tar Heels capture their seventh ACC Tournament title.
Hailing from Ocoee, Fla., Baum began his UNC career by going undefeated in his first seven starts as a Tar Heel first-year and has posted an 18-4 career mark at North Carolina. As a junior, Baum has posted a 7-3 record with a 3.95 ERA, and was named third team All-ACC.
After helping the Tar Heels go 3-0 in the Chapel Hill Regional of the NCAA Tournament, both Busch and Baum will look to earn a second straight College World Series appearance by defeating Auburn in the Super Regional at home, Boshamer Stadium, this weekend.
