BATON ROUGE — LSU second baseman Mike Fontenot was selected by the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday in the first round of the 2001 Major Leauge Baseball draft. Fontenot, a 5-8, 165-pound product of Slidell, La., was the 19th overall pick in the draft.
LSU outfielder Todd Linden, a native of Bremerton, Wash., was chosen by the San Francisco Giants as a supplemental first-round pick (41st overall); shortstop Ryan Theriot, a Baton Rouge, La., product, was selected in the third round by the Chicago Cubs (78th overall); and pitcher Jason Scobie, an Austin, Texas, native, was chosen in the 15th round by the New York Mets (462nd overall).
Six of LSU’s high school signees were also selected Tuesday, including catcher Jonathan de Vries of Irvine, Calif. (Boston Red Sox — third round, 93rd overall); catcher Jonathan Zeringue of E.D. White High School in Thibodaux, La. (Chicago White Sox — third round, 103rd overall); outfielder Jay Mattox of Conway, Ark., (Chicago White Sox — fourth round, 133rd overall); outfielder Chamar McDonald of Madison, Miss. (Kansas City Royals — fifth round, 145thoverall); outfielder Austin Nagle of Barbe High School in Lake Charles, La. (Oakland Athletics — sixth round, 192nd overall); and pitcher Billy Simon of Wellington, Fla. (Boston Red Sox — ninth round, 274th overall).
Five of the Tigers’ junior college recruits signed pro contracts before the 2001 draft and will not enroll at LSU. They include pitcher Jon Asahina of Fresno City College (Florida Marlins), pitcher Sean Henn of McLennan JC (New York Yankees), pitcher Zach Parker of San Jacinto JC (Colorado Rockies), pitcher Trevor Tacker of McLennan JC (New York Yankees) and outfielder Neesan Zieour of Sacramento City College (Toronto Blue Jays).
The first 20 rounds of the 50-round draft were completed on Tuesday. Rounds 21-50 will be conducted on Wednesday.
Fontenot, a 2001 first-team all-SEC selection, hit .339 (75-for-221) for LSU with 13 doubles, 14 homers, 64 runs and 50 RBI. Linden, a second-team all-conference choice, batted .312 (80-for-256) with teams highs of 20 homers and 76 RBI.
Theriot, a second-team all-SEC selection, batted .353 (94-for-266) with 18 doubles, three triples, one homer, 67 runs and 48 RBI. Scobie posted a 4-3 mark and a 4.69 ERA with 59 strikeouts in 96 innings.
Fontenot and Linden became the eighth and ninth LSU players to be selected in the first round of the MLB draft. The others are infielder Mike Miley (California Angels, 1974), pitcher Ben McDonald (Baltimore Orioles, 1989), pitcher Rick Greene (Detroit Tigers, 1992), second baseman Todd Walker (Minnesota Twins, 1994), shortstop Russ Johnson (Houston Astros, 1994), shortstop Brandon Larson (Cincinnati Reds, 1997) and pitcher Kurt Ainsworth (San Francisco Giants, 1999).