University of Richmond Athletics
San Francisco Giants Draft Senior Mike Mergenthaler
06/08/2011 | Baseball
June 8, 2011
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND - Senior RF Mike Mergenthaler was drafted by the San Francisco Giants Wednesday in the 32nd-round (987th overall) of the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. For the Spiders, it marks the first time since 2007 that multiple players were drafted in the same year after junior SS Adam McConnell was picked by the LA Dodgers in the 30th round.
A Second Team All-Atlantic 10 selection, Mergenthaler capped his remarkable Spider career in style as the team's triple crown winner in 2011 -- leading the club in average (.307), RBI (45) and home runs (7). It marks Richmond's first team triple crown winner since Mike Dwyer in 1998. Dwyer was Mergenthaler's high school coach at North Rockland (N.Y.)
Mergenthaler also led the Spiders in doubles (18), stolen bases (18), walks (36) and on-base percentage (.390). Named to the A-10 All-Tournament Team, Mergenthaler hit .438 (7-for-16) in the tournament with two doubles, four RBI and five run as Richmond reached the A-10 championship game to mark the program's best finish since 2003.
Missing just three games in his college career that spanned 207 games, the career .301-hitting ironman finished his Spider career ranked ranked third in RBI (166), fifth in at-bats (825), seventh in hits (248), ninth in doubles (50) and seventh in total bases (399).
The Rockland, N.Y. native played first base for much of his career, but started all 58 games in right field this season and led the A-10 and ranked third nationally with 11 outfield assists. Of the 11, four came on plays at the plate.
Since 1995, Mergenthaler is the 34th Spider to be drafted, and the second by the Giants organization (Thomas Martin, 13th round in 2004).
Richmond finished the 2011 season 29-27-2, reaching the A-10 Tournament for the first time since 2007 and advancing to the A-10 championship game before falling to regular-season champion Charlotte.
