DENVER, Colorado – Fifteen student-athletes from the American Athletic Conference were selected in the 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft over the course of three days July 11-13 in Denver, Colo.
 
American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year Gavin Williams of East Carolina was selected No. 23 by the Cleveland Indians, the second-highest draft pick in Pirate history and third first-round selection in program history. Williams was a consensus first-team All-American and a semifinalist for the Dick Howser and Golden Spikes awards. The Pirates’ ace is the sixth player drafted in the first round in conference history.
 
The American’s Player of the Year, ECU’s Connor Norby, was picked in the second round by the Baltimore Orioles at No. 41 overall. Norby was the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award winner and led the nation in hits with 102.
 
Houston’s Robert Gasser was selected ahead of the fourth round at No. 71 overall during the Competitive Balance B round. Gasser, who struck out 105 batters last season, was selected by the San Diego Padres.
 
Hunter Goodman, who led Memphis and The American with 21 home runs, was selected in the fourth round at 109^th overall by the Colorado Rockies.
 
Five more student-athletes from the league were drafted on Monday, including Tulane’s Collin Burns (6^th round, 167 overall, Baltimore), Braden Olthoff (9^th, 261, LAA) and Donovan Benoit (10^th, 300, Cincinnati), Cincinnati’s Evan Shawver (7^th, 200, Colorado) and UCF’s Colton Gordon (8^th, 238, Houston). The American had six players selected on the final day Tuesday.
 
Seven of The American’s eight teams had at least one student-athlete drafted. Tulane had the most selections with five, followed by East Carolina and UCF with three each.
 
Baltimore drafted three players from The American, while Colorado and Detroit each selected two players.  
 
 
American Athletic Conference Players Chosen in the 2021 MLB Draft

Round	Overall	Player	Pos	School	MLB Team
1	23	Gavin Williams	P	East Carolina	Cleveland Indians
2	41	Connor Norby	2B	East Carolina	Baltimore Orioles
CB-B	71	Robert Gasser	P	Houston	San Diego Padres
4	109	Hunter Goodman	C	Memphis	Colorado Rockies
6	167	Collin Burns	SS	Tulane	Baltimore Orioles
7	200	Evan Shawver	P	Cincinnati	Colorado Rockies
8	238	Colton Gordon	P	UCF	Houston Astros
9	261	Braden Olthoff	P	Tulane	Los Angeles Angels
10	300	Donovan Benoit	P	Tulane	Cincinnati Reds
11	315	Josh Crouch	C	UCF	Detroit Tigers
15	437	Keagan Gillies	P	Tulane	Baltimore Orioles
16	473	Jack Sinclair	P	UCF	Washington Nationals
17	495	Aaron Haase	P	Wichita State	Detroit Tigers
19	572	Thomas Francisco	1B	East Carolina	St. Louis Cardinals
20	589	Jack Aldrich	P	Tulane	Kansas City Royals