By MATT VAUTOUR
@GazetteUMass
Last modified: Saturday, August 02, 2014
The Washington Nationals like drafting UMass pitchers.
For the third time since 2009, the Nationals selected a Minuteman pitcher in Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft as senior right-hander D.J. Jauss was taken in the 29th round (874th overall) Saturday.
Jauss follows Mitchell Clegg and Nick Serino in the UMass-to-Washington pipeline. The bad news for Jauss is that his two predecessors were both released, Serino in 2010 and Clegg in 2011. Both are no longer in professional baseball.
Jauss, a native of Naples, Florida, began his career at East Carolina, where he played two seasons before transferring to UMass for the 2013 season.
He was 3-5 with a 4.26 ERA as a junior in 2013. Splitting time as a starter and reliever, he struck out 48 and walked 47 in 672/3 innings. He only pitched 16 times as a senior, all out of the bullpen. He went 2-1 with a 4.82 ERA and two saves. He had 13 strikeouts and 11 walks in 182/3 innings.
He’s the son of former Red Sox first base coach Dave Jauss, an Amherst College graduate. Dave Jauss is a coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
D.J. Jauss will be one of three UMass players in professional baseball. Pitcher Dennis Torres is 1-3 with a 3.09 ERA out of the bullpen for the Delmarva Shorebirds, a Baltimore Orioles Single-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League. Matt Gedman was a second baseman for the Minutemen, but has moved to first since being drafted by the Red Sox in 2011. Gedman’s on the disabled list for Single-A Salem, but was hitting .245 with five RBIs in 13 games before the injury.
Jauss is the 56th UMass player to be drafted since 1965 and the 37th during coach Mike Stone’s 27-years as head coach.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage