Westlake High senior first baseman/outfielder Christian Yelich was selected by the Florida Marlins in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft with the 23rd pick tonight.
"It was definitely a shock, but a great moment. It came out of the blue," Yelich said. "It's obviously super hard to go in the first round, and to be one of those 32 picks is a great honor."
Yelich was the only local player selected on the first day of the draft. The remaining 49 rounds will take place Tuesday and Wednesday.
It marks the second straight year the county's highest draft pick has been picked by the Marlins.
Last year, the Marlins selected former Royal High pitcher Bryan Berglund in the second round with 66th pick.
Yelich, who has committed to play at the University of Miami, was rated No. 52 among draft-eligible players by Baseball America and No. 26 by Keith Law of ESPN.com.
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound left-hander batted .451 with 14 doubles, nine home runs and 25 RBIs for Westlake this season. Yelich also stole 28 bases in 30 attempts.
The Marlins' owner and scouting director called to congratulate Yelich after he was drafted. Yelich will soon have to decide whether he's going to Florida to attend college or to begin his professional baseball career.
"We have until August to come to terms on a contract deal with them," Yelich said. "I will work it out and see what happens. I definitely want to be a professional baseball player."
Having just attended his prom and preparing to attend his graduation, Yelich wasn't quite prepared for the latest whirlwind.
"It's been one of the craziest days of my life," he said. "My phone has been blowing up all day. I haven't even thought about celebrating honestly because I didn't know if would happen today or not. It's overwhelming, but a welcome surprise."

Oaks Chrisitan School football coach Bill Redell came to the defense of Westlake High coach Jim Benkert in the wake of Petros Papadakis' critical comments about Westlake's program last Sunday night on "The Challenge" on KNBC.

"I think Jim Benkert has done a fabulous job at Westlake High and he is a man of the highest character," Redell said. "The entire Westlake community and Westlake High should be very proud to have a coach of Jim Benkert's caliber and stature running that program. As a fellow coach in the fraternity and as a Westlake community person, I am very proud of what he has done."

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