By FRED KRONER
Blake Wolters spent quality time Sunday night at home with his immediate family and a few close friends, watching television.
They tuned into the broadcast of the Major League Draft. They munched on pizza from Filippo’s and consumed either Diet Coke or Diet Mountain Dew.
They were together when his name flashed up on the screen. Wolters was the 44th baseball player selected in the annual baseball draft, going as the fifth pick in the second round to the Kansas City Royals.
“We’re on top of the world,” said Ella Wolters, Blake’s older sister. “The feeling is like an overflow of blessings.”
The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder right-handed pitcher is the third former Mahomet-Seymour athlete to get drafted, and the second to get the call after just graduating from high school.
Jeff Martin, also a pitcher, was taken in the 44th round in 1992 by the Seattle Mariners. Brad Wagers, also a pitcher, was picked in the 35th round in 1994 by the Baltimore Orioles after playing at Parkland College.
Wolters’ first reaction when he learned he was getting chosen by the Royals: “Unreal,” he said.
In mock drafts, Wolters was listed by six separate sites between 31st and 70th, as well as not at all in the first two rounds by nearly a dozen other predictors.
Wolters received a tip-off phone call Sunday night (July 9) about 10 minutes before his selection was announced on national television.
Wolters, however, didn’t put much stock in what others were saying prior to the call.
“I try not to pay close attention to it,” Wolters said, “but on Twitter, it would pop up.
“It’s good to know you’re up there on the board, but really no one knows what will happen. It’s a guessing game.”
What is not speculation is what’s next for Wolters next. Since 2018, there have been no players drafted out of high school in the first two rounds who have not signed a professional contract.
For Wolters, that means bypassing a scholarship to play at the University of Arizona.
He expects to sign with Kansas City this week and then report shortly thereafter to the team’s training facility in Surprise, Ariz.
“I’m excited to finally see the results and move on to the next step,” Wolters said.
The teen-ager had the opportunity to attend a MLB combine or a private workout at Boston’s Fenway Park after his prep career ended, but elected not to do so.
“I showed everything I needed to in high school,” he said.
He last threw in a game when he pitched M-S to its third consecutive regional championship on May 27 in a 4-1 victory at home over Lincoln.
“He would tell you now is when the work starts,” said his father, Doug Wolters. “He’ll have to work harder than ever before.”
Major League Baseball has slotted a signing value for each draft pick in the early rounds. As the 44th pick, Wolters could expect to receive an offer of approximately $1,951,600.
There’s a reason the bonus to sign is not a precise figure.
“It’s one big budget (per team) and they can allocate it however they like,” said Ella Wolters, a junior-to-be at Arizona.
In theory, teams could sign a higher draftee for a lower dollar amount in order to have additional money to offer other draft picks.
Bert Bradley, who recently retired as a scout for the San Francisco Giants, estimated that he saw Wolters pitch “four or five times,” this spring.
Though he is not an advisor, he agrees with the decision for Wolters to start his professional career now.
“If you’re in the top one or two rounds and go (to college) and get hurt, you’re forfeiting two or three million dollars,” said Bradley, who believes that Wolters has the makeup to successfully be a teen-ager on his own as a minor-leaguer.
“He’s a good kid and level-headed,” Bradley said. “You don’t have to worry about him being away from home for the first time and getting in trouble.”
Wolters was the 11th pitcher to be drafted this year, and the seventh coming out of high school. Of the first 44 MLB selections, 22 were high schoolers.
After watching her brother go through the pre-draft process, Ella Wolters is confident he can deal with whatever is next.
“He handled it with grace and humility,” she said. “There are not many big-sister duties he needs me for anymore.”
M-S baseball coach Nic DiFilippo agreed that maturity is a Wolters’ strength.
“There was more pressure on him than any high school player we’ve seen, but he didn’t show it,” DiFilippo said. “He does all we ask as far as staying steady.”
Mahomet-Seymour graduate David Seifert, who spent 15 years in Major League Baseball (six in the front office with the Oakland Athletics and nine in scouting with the Philadelphia Phillies) said, “from everything I know, he’s a mature kid and that makes it easier to be out on your own.”
When he started his senior year of high school last August, Blake Wolters said he was clueless about what would transpire over the next 11 months.
“To be honest, I knew I was athletic, and every kid has a dream to be in MLB or the NFL, but I was realistic,” Wolters said. “The odds are not too good.
“I really had no idea I would be in this situation. Two years ago, I didn’t know if I could play in college.”
Even as Sunday’s draft from Seattle was in progress and all 39 first-round picks were made without his name being called, uncertainty remained.
“As it got later (in the draft), I thought it might not happen,” Wolters said. “I was thinking maybe I’d go the college route, but the right deal was made.”
The official word came at 9:40 p.m. CST, 3 hours and 40 minutes after the televised draft event began.
In the days leading up to the draft, Wolters “continued to do my training here, lifting and throwing.”
If there was additional time for other activities, “I golfed a little bit,” he said.
Among those who connected with Wolters by phone later in the evening on Sunday – before he attended a celebratory party in his honor at YoYos – was Quincy native Scott Melvin, who is in his 15th year as an area scout for the Kansas City Royals.
“Kansas City was one of the squads that was a little more interested (throughout the high school season),” Wolters said.
What happened between last August and Draft Day, according to Seifert, is a remarkable and swift transformation.
“For me, it started last July at the Illinois Pro Case,” said Seifert (M-S Class of 1989), who now works for Prep Baseball Report (PBR) and Division I Baseball.com. “He pitched there, and I saw a lanky guy with a good arm.
“His fast ball was around 92/93 (mph). I didn’t write him off, but there was a lot of work to do.”
Seifert watched Wolters again in February, 2023. He saw an improved pitcher, but not one he was ready to rank as a hot-shot prospect, even if they shared the same high school alma mater.
“His changeup wasn’t a throwable pitch,” Seifert said.
The Bulldogs’ spring high school season, though, prompted PBR to revise expectations for Wolters. The organization had him rated as the 36th-best prospect going into the draft.
“He went from throwing one pitch at 97 to touching 97 ten or 12 times a game,” Seifert said. “Not a lot of guys do what he has done.
“He can now throw his change for a strike. It was impressive. Blake is one of the few who have made such huge jumps.”
It was reminiscent of strides made by a Texas teen-ager nearly 15 years ago.
“He hit the upper 80s in the fall of his senior year, then was at 90 or 92 in February, and by the end of May was touching 95,” Seifert said.
The player’s name is Noah Syndergaard, who graduated from Mansfield Legacy (Texas) High School in 2010. The right-hander is pitching for the Los Angeles Dodger and is closing in on 1,000 career strikeouts.
In every game Wolters pitched for M-S as a senior, there were between 20 and 30 MLB teams with representatives in attendance.
“That’s not usual, especially around here (in Central Illinois),” Bradley said. “With high-profile guys, you see that.
“Blake piqued interest. His size is outstanding, especially for what he was two years ago. He was 30 pounds less.”
Bradley worked in MLB for 46 years. With his reputation, colleagues sought his opinions when they spoke with him at the ball field this spring.
“Other scouts saw me and asked (about Wolters),” Bradley said. “He’s Matt Cain out of high school, with better stuff already.
“He’s about the same size (as the 6-3, 230-pound Cain).”
Cain was a three-time All-Star for the Giants, and he registered 1,694 strikeouts and threw a perfect game in June, 2012, the same year he finished sixth in the National League Cy Young voting.
Bradley provided a positive evaluation on Wolters.
“I like to watch guys fail and see how they react,” Bradley said, “but he didn’t fail.
“He relied on the fast ball more than he had to. He has three above-average pitches, a slider and a change he hardly ever uses.
“He has a chance to move up quickly.”
As a senior, Wolters had a 7-1 overall record and authored three no-hitters. In 48 2/3 innings, he recorded 108 strikeouts to go with an earned run average of 0.43. He permitted just 13 hits.
He walked 11 batters this season and in six of his nine starts, issued no more than one walk.
“My dad taught me to throw strikes,” Wolters said. “He said you don’t want to give freebies out.”
Seifert said the number of scouts at Bulldog games this year only served to reinforce his opinion that Wolters is “easily one of the top 50 talents,” in the draft.
There’s a system in place as to who will scout potential prospects.
“The first look is usually by the area scout,” Seifert said. “Then the cross-checker comes to see him. If that cross-checker likes him, the national cross-checker comes. Then the scouting director comes in.”
Sometimes, other VIPs arrive, too.
“When the GM walks into the dugout, it’s pretty legit,” said DiFilippo, recalling a visit from San Diego’s 46-year-old general manager, A.J. Preller.
Among the other front-office personnel who made their way to Mahomet during the spring was Kansas City’s national pitching director.
“He saw Blake in a no-hitter (against Centennial),” DiFilippo said. “Kansas City is one of the teams that spent a lot of time (scouting Wolters).”
The Wolters family, including parents Doug and Angie, have been working with the Boras Corporation. Bradley said that was the best decision they could have made.
“As a player, Boras is the best guy you can have,” Bradley said.
DiFilippo, who recently finished his 17th year as the M-S baseball head coach, said this year was unlike any other that he has been around.
“It has been eye-opening to see how the whole process works,” DiFilippo said. “You have that childhood, boyish dream, and then you see the business side.
“They (the MLB teams) are trying to get what’s best for them.”
DiFilippo was still getting calls from various team officials in the days leading up to the draft.
“Every guy would ask, ‘How signable is he?’” DiFilippo said. “(The answer was) very simple. The family said the goal is MLB.”
Kansas City was not a surprise for the family.
“Blake’s last Zoom interview before the draft was with Kansas City,” Ella Wolters said.
Seifert said it’s important for clubs not to be blindsided while making decisions on Draft Day.
“When you pick a high school player, you can’t take a player who doesn’t sign,” Seifert said.
DiFilippo said “a lot” of teams reached out to him consistently throughout the spring and early summer. Besides Kansas City, the others who were in contact the most were Seattle, Tampa Bay, Chicago (Cubs), Los Angeles (Dodgers) and New York (Yankees).
The Dodgers sent a camera crew to get extra footage. MLB assigned a film crew to a Bulldog game at Charleston.
The M-S coach’s duties didn’t end after dealing with the scouts or the media.
“There were almost daily text exchanges between Doug (Wolters) and I,” he said.
The support from the community, Doug Wolters said, “has been amazing.”
He added: “The coaches, teammates and others, I could thank a thousand people and barely touch the surface.”
Blake Wolters will start his professional career in an organization which is struggling at the major league level in 2023.
The Royals enter the All-Star break with a record of 26-65 and are 19 games behind American League Central Division leader Cleveland. Kansas City’s winning percentage (28.6 percent) is the second-lowest in MLB.
Nonetheless, Ella Wolters said, “He is stoked.”
She added: “He has sacrificed a lot, 10 years of working hard, 10 years of playing with joy and the last couple years putting in the work. I couldn’t be more happy.”
The overall caliber of players available in the 2023 draft was considered outstanding.
One national evaluator, who was quoted in MLBpipeline.com, said this year offered “perhaps the deepest overall talent pool in this millennium.”
With M-S, Blake Wolters was more than the Gatorade State Player of the Year for his pitching prowess. He’s a notable hitter, too.
The success of the Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani creates the obvious question of whether Wolters could be utilized in the dual capacity of pitcher and hitter.
The idea is not far-fetched, Bradley said.
“He (Wolters) can hit as well as most guys who will get drafted in the higher rounds,” Bradley said. “Especially with what Ohtani is doing, you look at guys who can do that.”
This season, the 29-year-old Ohtani is having another All-Star year, batting .302 with 32 home runs and 71 runs batted in. On the mound, he is 7-4 with a 3.32 earned run average and 132 strikeouts in 100 1/3 innings pitched.
Difilippo said it’s an interesting thought to ponder.
“I don’t think he will, but it would be fun to find out (if he could),” DiFilippo said. “As good of a hitter as he is, I don’t know that he can hit at that level.”
Wolters, who hit .438 as a senior with nine home runs and 39 runs batted in for a school record-setting 31-win team, also weighed in on the prospects.
“He (Ohtani) is one of the best athletes of all time,” Wolters said. “That gives me a little hope.
“A couple (scouts) said something about my hitting, but I don’t think it’s a consideration.
“My batting days might be over.”
Wolters is OK with that, and is ready to devote his full-time attention to pitching at the next level without any distractions.
“Hitting can be frustrating,” he said.
That’s especially true for batters obliged to hit against Blake Wolters.
Glad to see Mahomet is doing so well!