Former Gatemen picked No. 1, No. 2 overall in MLB draft

Jun 5, 2018

Two former Wareham Gatemen had a stellar start to their Major League Baseball careers, becoming the number one and two overall picks in Monday’s draft.

The Detroit Tigers drafted pitcher Casey Mize as the number one pick. The San Francisco Giants tapped catcher Joey Bart as the number two overall pick.

Mize, of Springville, Alabama, is currently 9-5 with a 3.07 ERA at Auburn. Over 102 innings he has struck out 140 hitters while walking 10.

Bart, a Buford, Georgia native, hit .359 with 16 home runs and 38 RBIs for the 2018 NCAA season. He caught 12 of 33 runners trying to steal.

Both competed as Gatemen in the amateur Cape Cod League in 2016.

Mize credited his time with Gatemen pitching coach Jim Lawler that summer as a factor in his collegiate success.

“That first summer was a huge difference. Working with coach Lawler on pitching out of the stretch is something that we really honed in on because my delivery out of the stretch needed a lot of work,” said Mize.  “We refined the slider a little bit. My velocity was good up there and I just started noticing that I was hanging in there with the best hitters in the country.”

Bart also had an outstanding summer with the league, batting .309 with a pair of home runs and 21 runs driven in for the Gatemen.

“You could see the ball fly off Bart’s bat right away,” said Gatemen coach Don Sneddon. “He had a terrific arm. The only question was his ability to command a game from behind the plate and he has really developed that skill over the last few years.”