TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Florida State junior pitcher C.J. Van Eyk was selected with the 42nd overall pick in Thursday’s Major League Baseball Draft, going to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Van Eyk is FSU’s highest drafted pitcher since Luke Weaver went in the first round in 2014.
In the fifth round, with pick 148 overall, left-handed pitcher Shane Drohan was selected by the Boston Red Sox.
As a freshman, Van Eyk was 7-0 while splitting time between the bullpen and starting rotation. He was a second-team freshman All-American from Baseball America, D1Baseball and the NCBWA and was on the 2018 ACC All-Freshman Team.
In 2019, Van Eyk helped lead the Seminoles back to the College World Series, finishing 10-4 with a 3.81 ERA.
He struck out 129 batters in 99.1 innings pitched and won seven consecutive decisions leading to the CWS, including a one-hitter in the ACC Tournament against NC State with a season-high 11 strikeouts. In the regional against No. 4 Georgia, he pitched a career-high 8.0 innings in the Noles’ 12-3 win.
Van Eyk earned second team ABCA All-Region honors, third team All-ACC honors and was on the 2019 All-Athens Regional Team.
As the Seminole ace in 2020, Van Eyk was 1-1 with a 1.31 ERA with 25 strikeouts over 20.2 innings pitched before the season was canceled due to COVID-19 on March 11. He earned the win against FAU with a season-high eight strikeouts and allowed just 11 hits on the season. He was a semifinalist for the AAU Sullivan Award, given to the nation’s top amateur athlete.
Drohan, from West Palm Beach, finished 2020 with 27 strikeouts in 17.2 innings pitched and a 4.08 ERA. He struck out a career-high nine batters against No. 3 Texas Tech. In 26 career appearances as a Seminole, Drohan struck out 99 batters in 73.2 innings.
Drohan was drafted in the 23rd round by the Philadelphia Phillies out of high school in the 2017 draft.
Since the draft began in 1965, 274 Noles have been drafted, including at least one each year since 1975.
