Kevin Munson Drafted by the Diamondbacks

The Diamond Dukes are picking up right where JMU football left off. After the Dukes saw Arthur Moats and Scotty McGee selected in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Arizona Diamondbacks selected JMU Junior Kevin Munson with the 121st pick of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Munson is coming off a terrific junior season, in which he was named the 2010 CAA Pitcher of the Year, and was selected to the All-CAA First Team, and All-America Third Team. As JMU’s closer, Munson compiled an 8-1 record with 10 saves. He had a 1.64 ERA and held opposing hitters to a ridiculous .174 batting average. The MLB.com scouting report had this to say about him:

Finding bullpen help is never easy, but it’s become much more common to do it via the Draft in recent years, as college closers are taken in the hopes they can move quickly through a system. Munson could be one of those types, with a very good fastball-slider mix and the right attitude to pitch in short relief. He’s strong and durable, though also physically mature.

In other baseball draft news, Villanova junior Matt Szczur was drafted in the 5th round by the Chicago Cubs. You might be asking yourself why the heck this even deserves mention on a JMU blog. Because if Szczur signs with the Cubs and foregos his senior season, then the CAA football race will get a whole lot more interesting.

For those of you who don’t recognize Szczur’s name, he’s the Wildcat WR who does a little bit of everything and does it all well. Extremely well. He was the MVP of last season’s FCS National Championship and he’d easily be one of the most dangerous players in the CAA this fall if he returns. In addition to his 51 catches for over 600 yards last season, Matt rushed for over 800 (Nova ran the Wildcat, no pun intended) and had another 816 yards returning kicks. And he scored 15 TDs. Oh, and he recently took a few games off during baseball season to donate bone marrow to a 19 month old leukemia patient whom he’d never even met! So yeah, he’s a talented and apparently decent guy. So, Godspeed Matt. Go sign a big contract and stay away from the Dukes this fall.