Gold Sox pair drafted
Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox fans won't be hearing the names Tom Everidge or Darren Sack over the All Season RV Stadium public address system any time soon.
As expected, Everidge and Sack - juniors at Sonoma State - were each drafted Monday in Major League Baseball's amateur draft.
Everidge, a 6-foot-1, 215 pound outfielder, was picked up by the Oakland A's in the 10th round, the 307th overall pick. The right-handed pitching Sack (6-4, 190) was the 340th overall pick in the 11th round by the San Francisco Giants.
“I'm just excited to get a chance to play pro ball,” Sack said. “I never realized that this could happen and then that phone call came through.”
Sack said the Giants organization called him in the eighth round asking if he would sign. He said yes, and three rounds later he got another call saying he had been drafted.
Sack and Everidge had a private workout with the Giants on June 4. Sack said the Giants had seemed to be the most interested team.
Sack had a 9-3 record with a 3.14 ERA at Sonoma State this year. He fanned 93 in 106 innings pitched. In two starts with the Gold Sox, Sack was 1-0 with a 0.68 ERA. He fanned 21 and walked one in 131/3 innings.
“Sack is tall and lanky and nothing but good upside,” Gold Sox manager Brad Peek said. “He has potential to increase his velocity and is very durable. He has the kind of qualities they look for in a pitcher.”
Everidge was drafted as a first baseman, though Peek said he can play third or the outfield. He hit .357 with 69 RBIs and 19 home runs in 65 games with Sonoma while being selected as a second team All-American.
He hit .391 with seven RBIs in six games for the Gold Sox.
“Right now he has an average major league arm and average major league speed with room to improve,” Peek said of Everidge. “You can develop more power as you go along. He is a good line drive hitter and a good situational hitter, as well.”
Everidge could not be reached for comment.
Sack and Everidge played under Peek last year for the Gold Sox in their first year as a collegiate wood-bat team.
“I really enjoyed those two guys. They are two great kids both on and off the field and have really helped legitimize what we are trying to do with the Gold Sox.”
It has not yet been determined where Everidge and Sack would report.
Sack did say he thought he might report to the Giant's single-A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in Keizer, Ore.
The A's single-A organizations include, the Kane County Cougars of Geneva, Ill.; the Vancouver Canadians of Vancouver, BC; and the Modesto A's.
Richard Robnett of Fresno State and the Santa Barbara Forresters was selected by the A's in the first round.
In addition, San Jose State pitcher Matt Durkin, who the Gold Sox beat last year when he was with the Maxim Yankees, was picked in the second round by the New York Mets.
