Cullowhee, N.C. – With the final pick of the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft, Western Carolina junior shortstop
Pascanel Ferreras was today selected by the Houston Astros. Ferreras was selected in the 20th round on Tuesday with the 614th overall pick.
Ferreras is just the second Catamount baseball player drafted by Houston all-time, joining fellow infielder Tyler White who was selected in the 33rd round back in the 2013 draft. White went on to make his Big-League debut with the Astros in 2016. Ferreras is also the third Catamount drafted in the 20th round of the MLB Draft all-time joining another shortstop in Aaron Attaway (2014) and second-baseman Kenny Smith (2007).
Ferreras has been a staple up the middle for the Catamounts over the past three seasons, starting 160 games including 158 at shortstop. He batted .339 over three years for the Purple and Gold, eclipsing the 200-career hit mark this past spring to amass 223 base knocks including a career-best 85 as a sophomore. Of his 223 hits, 97 went for extra bases including 49 doubles (17th in program history), five triples, and 43 home runs, a mark that ranks him eighth in the school ledgers.
A product of Stone Mountain, Ga., Ferreras scored 164 runs over the past three seasons to rank just outside of WCU's all-time Top 20, while his 169 career RBI put him 11th in program history. He boasts a career on-base percentage of .433, a mark that ranks him sixth in the WCU record books.
Ferreras was a three-time All-Southern Conference selection, garnering second-team plaudits as a freshman in 2021 in addition to Freshman All-America honors from both Collegiate Baseball and D1Baseball. He collected first-team All-SoCon honors in both 2022 and 2023, claiming the program's Triple Crown as a sophomore – the first for WCU since 2017 – leading the team in batting average (.362), home runs (15), and RBI (60).
Ferreras was twice picked as the preseason player of the year in the SoCon, doing so prior to the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He also collected a pair of SoCon weekly plaudits during the 2022 campaign, while also gracing the national watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award.
Six Southern Conference players were drafted through the 20 rounds of this year's MLB Draft including two from Samford and one apiece from ETSU, Mercer, WCU and Wofford.
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Additional WCU Draft Notes:
* On Tuesday afternoon, Western Carolina had a player selected in the Major-League Baseball First-Year Player Draft for the 35th year dating back to 1977 … WCU has had 38 draft picks inside the top 20 rounds all time;
* WCU has had
THREE players drafted in the 20th round all-time including
Pascanel Ferreras (Houston Astros, 2022) … Aaron Attaway (Toronto Blue Jays, Pick No. 594 in 2014) … and Kenny Smith (Texas Rangers, Pick No. 620 in 2007);
*
Pascanel Ferreras became just the second Catamount baseball player to be drafted by the Houston Astros, joining Tyler White (33rd round, 2013) … White went on to play for the big-league club from 2016-19, the only former Catamount to wear the Astros uniform;
* WCU did not have a player drafted in 2018, halting a streak of 12 consecutive years of hearing a Catamount name called during the three-day event … Since 2000, WCU has had a player drafted in 19 of the 24 drafts, missing just 2001, 2004, 2005, 2018 and 2020 –
though the event was reduced to just 10 rounds in 2020 … During that same span without a draft pick, WCU did see RHP Chase Walter sign as a free agent with the San Diego Padres in 2020, Jared Greenwood as a free agent with the New York Yankees in 2005, and Matt Price signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2001;
* WCU has had three players taken inside the first 100 picks all-time, headlined by Rick Adair with the 53rd pick of the third round by the Seattle Mariners in the 1979 draft – WCU's highest selection all-time ... the other two are Brad Tweedie (3rd round, 92nd pick by Cincinnati Reds in 1993) and Jason Beverlin (4th round, 93rd pick by Oakland Athletics in 1994).
