Former national champion and College World Series Most Outstanding Player Kumar Rocker was drafted by the New York Mets with the tenth overall pick in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft. He became Vanderbilt’s 12th top-ten draft pick since 2003 and joined teammate Jack Leiter, who was selected just eight picks before him, as its second draftee in the 2021 class.
Rocker leaves Vanderbilt fourth in program history in strikeouts (318) and with a 7-1 NCAA Tournament record to his name. The former Gatorade Georgia Baseball Player of the Year arrived in Nashville as one of the most coveted high school pitching prospects in recent memory and lived up to his reputation, posting a career 2.89 ERA in over 236 innings pitched.
His Commodore career was highlighted by a memorable College World Series run in 2019 that featured a 19-strikeout super regional no-hitter—just the eighth no-hitter in NCAA Tournament history.
“He’s a one in a million kid. His fibers are so real and so pure. He just loves team. He’s connected to competition…He will go down as one of the best we have ever had at Vanderbilt,” Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said after Rocker’s final outing. “He’s meant so much to our program, he’s meant a lot to college baseball, he’s meant a lot to the SEC.”
The hard-throwing righty may now bring his coveted slider to New York’s farm system and his MLB arrival will be much anticipated by Mets fans everywhere.
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