LSU Gold

Chinea Becomes Eighth Tiger Taken in MLB Draft

by Bill Franques
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Chinea Becomes Eighth Tiger Taken in MLB Draft

BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU junior first baseman Chris Chinea was selected Wednesday in the 17th round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.

A total of eight LSU players were selected during the draft, which began Monday and ended Wednesday.

Junior shortstop Alex Bregman was selected in the first round Monday by the Houston Astros, and junior outfielder Andrew Stevenson was chosen in the second round Monday by the Washington Nationals.

On Tuesday, senior catcher Kade Scivicque was chosen in the fourth round by the Detroit Tigers, senior infielder Jared Foster was selected in the fifth round by the Los Angeles Angels, senior left-handed pitcher Zac Person was chosen in the ninth round by the Houston Astros, junior outfielder Mark Laird was selected in the ninth round by the Philadelphia Phillies and senior third baseman Conner Hale was chosen in the ninth round by the Seattle Mariners.

Chinea, a native of Miami, is batting .355 this season with 17 doubles, 11 homers, 58 RBI and 42 runs. He is No. 3 in the SEC in hits (87), and he is fifth in the league in RBI, sixth in total bases (137), seventh in batting average, eighth in doubles, 10th in slugging percentage (.559) and 10th in home runs.

A 2015 third-team All-America selection, Chinea was voted to the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional All-Tournament team after batting .455 (5-for-11) in three games with one double, three RBI and three runs.

2015 LSU Baseball Draft Summary
1st rd. (2), Alex Bregman, SS, Houston Astros
2nd rd. (58), Andrew Stevenson, OF, Washington Nationals
4th rd. (130), Kade Scivicque, C, Detroit Tigers
5th rd. (165), Jared Foster, INF, Los Angeles Angels
9th rd. (259), Zac Person, LHP, Houston Astros
9th rd. (264), Mark Laird, OF, Philadelphia Phillies
9th rd. (275), Conner Hale, INF, Seattle Mariners
17th rd. (521), Chris Chinea, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals