Catcher Kevin Krause and pitcher Brandon McNitt were picked in the 2014 MLB Draft over this past weekend, with Krause going in the ninth round to the Pittsburgh Pirates and McNitt getting selected in the 27th round by the Houston Astros.
Krause and McNitt are the 20th and 21st players in Stony Brook history to be drafted to the league. Only two of the previous 19 players drafted have made the pros in pitchers Joe Nathan and Tim Koehler. Nathan currently pitches for the Texas Rangers, while Tim Koehler is in Miami with the Marlins.
Krause, from nearby Staten Island, is also the sixth player in Seawolves history to be picked on the first day of the draft in the first ten rounds. He joins Travis Jankowski (2012 to the Padres), Pat Cantwell (2012 to the Rangers), Nick Tropeano (2011 to the Astros), Chris Flinn (2001 to the Devil Rays) and Joe Nathan (1995 to the Giants).
The shining moment for Krause during his career was the run to the 2012 College World Series in which they took down perennial powers Miami (FL) and LSU on the Road to Omaha. During that freshman season, he was named a freshman All-American and first-team All Northeast Region while hitting .330 with three home runs and 40 RBI on the Seawolves team that “shocked the world.”
After being hampered by injuries in 2013, Krause came back strong in 2014, being named the America East Player of the Year and a third-team Louisville Slugger All-American while hitting .354 with eight home runs and 51 RBI. He led the conference in the latter two categories, along with runs scored and total bases in a year in which Stony Brook was one win away from the NCAA’s again, but fell twice to Binghamton in the final round of the America East Championship.
McNitt is the second player to be drafted by the Astros, joining Tropeano. McNitt was also a critical part of that team that went to the 2012 CWS, as he leaves Stony Brook as the all-time leader in innings pitched with 350.1. He is also second in program history in wins (26), sixth in strikeouts (235) and fifth in ERA (2.85).
McNitt had a fantastic final season with Stony Brook, putting the icing on the cake in a fantastic career as a Seawolf.
He was a first-team all-America East selection in 2014, after posting a banner year, going 8-1 with a 2.89 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 71.2 innings pitched. He led the team in all three of the pitching triple crown categories and led the conference in wins.
McNitt also had two stellar outings in particular that put him on some draft boards across the league.
He shut down Wake Forest, a team from the ACC, striking out 10 in seven innings down in Winston-Salem. He left the game with a 2-1 lead as well.
The second stellar outing came in the final regular season game, a winner-take-all for the America East regular season championship against the Hartford Hawks. McNitt dealt a complete game five-hitter, while striking out eight, earning the Seawolves their second regular-season title in three seasons.
