Arizona drafts Duke pitcher Bryce Jarvis with No. 18 pick in first round of MLB Draft
Duke pitcher Bryce Jarvis has been selected by Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round of the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft, with the 18th overall pick.
Jarvis is just the second Duke baseball player to be a first-round draft pick. Marcus Stroman, now a pitcher for the New York Mets, became the first when he was drafted as the No. 22 pick by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012.
The junior right-handed pitcher was ACC Pitcher of the Week twice in the limited 2020 season, and pitched a perfect game on Feb. 21 against Cornell. He was named a first-team 2020 Collegiate Baseball All-American.
In 2019, Jarvis averaged 11.18 strikeouts per nine innings, the fifth-most in the ACC.
Though the New York Yankees drafted him in the 37th round of the 2019 draft, Jarvis was not eligible to be signed.
Going into this year’s draft, Jarvis was projected to be selected mid-to-late in the first round. MLB.com had him as No. 25 on its top-200 list.
In a phone interview with the News & Observer on Monday, Jarvis said he’d be spending the draft day with his family back home in Nashville, Tennessee. Up until recently, Jarvis had been living in Boca Raton, Florida with Duke catcher Michael Rothenberg and some other teammates.
Jarvis’ father, Kevin, was also a pitcher in the MLB. He played for 12 teams between the years 1994-2006 after being drafted in the 21st round by the Cincinnati Reds in 1991.
