Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada drafted 11th overall by New York Mets
Jul. 18—Georgia Tech's Kevin Parada was the 11th player selected in the 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft's first round Sunday night by the New York Mets.
Parada, a sophomore catcher from Pasadena, Calif., joins an illustrious group of Yellow Jackets in becoming the 12th first-round pick in school history and is the ninth under head coach Danny Hall. He joins Joey Bart (2nd), Jed Bradley (15th), Deck McGuire (11th), Matt Wieters (5th), Tyler Greene (30th), Mark Teixeira (5th), Nomar Garciaparra (12th), Jason Varitek (21st, 14th), Ty Griffin (9th) and Kevin Brown (4th) in first-rounders from The Flats.
Parada was a unanimous first-team all-American by major media outlets after his fantastic sophomore season in 2022 where he earned the Buster Posey Award and Johnny Bench Award for nation's top collegiate catcher and was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award (top amateur player in the nation) and Dick Howser Trophy (college baseball player of the year).
A first-team all-ACC and all-region selection and the NCBWA District 4 Player of the Year, the Pasadena, Calif. native ranked among the nation's best all year, finishing the regular season ranking sixth with a school-record 26 home runs, second in total bases (174), third in RBI (85), fifth in runs (74) and 35th in hits (85). In the Atlantic Coast Conference, Parada led in runs and RBI, ranked third in home runs, fourth in hits and was the fourth-toughest hitter to strikeout in the league.
Parada started all 60 of Georgia Tech's games in 2022, playing an impressive 55 of them behind the dish, where he posted a .992 fielding percentage and threw out 12 would-be base thieves.
Over his two years on The Flats, played in 112 games with 111 starts. He hit a gaudy .341 for his career with a total of 163 base hits, 35 home runs and 30 doubles. He also drove 130 runs and scored 121, while posting a .636 slugging percentage and .420 on-base percentage.
Parada's selection marks the 42nd-straight season in which a Georgia Tech student-athlete has been taken in the MLB Draft, a streak that began in 1981 with the selection of first baseman Tommy Thompson by the Kansas City Royals.
