Taylor, Carlson Selected in Day Two of MLB Draft
6/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 8, 2004
WACO, Texas - Two more Baylor baseball players heard their names called in Tuesday's second and final day of the 2004 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Junior left-handed pitcher Trey Taylor was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 20th round, while senior right-hander Zane Carlson was a 27th-round selection by the Kansas City Royals.
Taylor, a product of Mansfield [Texas] High School, was 6-3 with a 3.16 ERA in 15 starts and 91.0 innings of work for the Bears in 2004. He was 3-0 with a 3.13 ERA in eight Big 12 Conference starts and earned honorable mention all-conference honors. Taylor's three losses this season came against NCAA Super Regional participants Long Beach State, Vanderbilt, and NCAA Regional participant UC Irvine.
In three seasons at Baylor, Taylor has amassed a 12-9 record with a 4.61 ERA. He lowered his career ERA by 1.23 runs in 2004.
A fifth-year senior this spring, Carlson leaves Baylor as the program's most-storied and most-decorated closer. National Co-Freshman of the Year in 2000, Carlson established the all-time Baylor saves record with 37, seventh in NCAA history and second all-time in the Big 12. He tallied 44 strikeouts in 33.2 innings this season for a career strikeout tally of 225. That total is tied for seventh in school history and is the most ever by a Baylor reliever.
Carlson, a product of Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas, was a two-time All-Big 12 selection. He was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2000 and is the career saves leader in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League. He made 110 career relief appearances, first all-time both at Baylor and in the Big 12 and tied for 12th in NCAA history.
Along with Houston's selection of Drew Sutton in Monday's 15th round, Major League organizations have now used 46 draft picks on Baylor players during head coach Steve Smith's 10 years at Baylor.
