After becoming just the third player in program history to be named Big West Player of the Year, Mitch Haniger — yet again — made history.
Finishing the season with a conference-leading 13 home runs and a .626 slugging percentage, Haniger was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers as a compensatory selection (38th overall) in the first round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Monday. With the selection, the Brewers made Haniger the highest Cal Poly player drafted in the school’s Division I tenure.
On the following day, the Boston Red Sox selected Cal Poly shortstop Mike Miller in the ninth round (301st overall).
Both were arguably Cal Poly’s two best players on the diamond this year. Haniger, a first-team All-Big West selection, hit .346 to go with a conference-leading 64 RBIs — 20 more than the second-place hitter — and a slugging percentage above .600. Miller hit .354, second in the Big West to UC Santa Barbara’s Brett Vertigan, with 87 hits and a conference-leading 56 runs.
Another Cal Poly player came off the draft board on Wednesday morning; relief pitcher Nick Grim was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 17th round (522nd overall).
The three helped Cal Poly to a 36-20 (16-8 Big West) record and a second-place finish in the Big West.