Saturday
26Jul
San Diego Padres Sign Draftees Cole Figueroa and Matt Clark
Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 12:38PM MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com –
San Diego, CA – The San Diego Padres announced today that the club has signed infielder Cole Figueroa, the team’s sixth-round pick in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. San Diego has also signed its 12th-round pick, infielder Matt Clark. Vice President of Scouting & Player Development Grady Fuson and Director of Scouting Bill “Chief” Gayton made the announcements.
Figueroa, the 195th
overall selection out of the University of Florida, hit .350
(78-for-223) with 12 doubles, one triple, nine home runs, 57 RBI, 61
runs scored and 20 stolen bases in 58 games at shortstop for the Gators
this season. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound sophomore was the
only Gator to start all 58 games and he led the club in home runs, RBI,
multi-hit games (24), multi-RBI games (15), total bases (119) and
sacrifice flies (7). A Sport Management major, he was named to the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll for the second straight year. In 2007, Figueroa garnered First-Team Freshman All-American honors by Baseball America and Rivals.com and was also selected to Louisville Slugger’s Freshman All-American Team by Collegiate Baseball and named to the SEC All-Freshman Team after hitting .332 (87-for-262) with 11 home runs, 50 RBI and 48 runs scored. He
was an All-Star in the Cape Cod League playing for Harwich in 2007 and
played in 30 games for Orleans this year, tying for the team lead with
17 RBI during his stay.
A
native of Tallahassee, Fla., Figueroa’s father Bien played one Major
League season as an infielder with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1992 and
currently serves as the manager of the San Francisco Giants Double-A
Connecticut affiliate.
Clark, the 375th
overall pick out of Louisiana State University, batted .344
(78-for-227) with 17 doubles, 28 home runs, 64 RBI, 57 runs scored and
40 walks in 65 games for a Tigers team that reached the NCAA College
World Series. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound junior tied for the
Division I lead in home runs and was named Newcomer of the Year on the
2008 All-Louisiana College Baseball Team. He played 57 games at first base, one at third base and six as the designated hitter. Clark earned SEC All-Tournament honors after hitting three home runs with five RBI. A
native of Fontana, Calif., Clark began his college career at Riverside
(Calif.) Community College where he earned First-Team JUCO All-American
honors in 2007. His father Terry pitched in six Major
League seasons with California (1988-89), Houston (1990, 1996), Atlanta
(1995), Baltimore (1995), Kansas City (1996), Cleveland (1997) and
Texas (1997), and currently serves as the Rangers Double-A Frisco
pitching coach.
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