By Chris McCarthy/ Publisher/Editor
Miles Nordgren’s baseball career did not end with his graduation last month from Birmingham-Southern College.
The 2010 Etowah High School graduate recently was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 2014 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
Nordgren received the good news this past Saturday (June 7) that he was taken as the draft’s 680th overall pick.
“I was looking at the draft tracker on my I-Phone,” he said. “I turned it off when I went to the field to throw, and when I checked again, I found out I was drafted. It was a great feeling and I’m excited to get started.”
Nordgren this past season finished with a 9-2 record and a 1.49 earned run average along with 57 strikeouts as BSC went 35-12 record, won the Southern Athletic Association regular season and tournament titles and received a bid to the Div. III NCAA Tournament.
Nordgren earned All-America and All-Region accolades from both D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings. He also earned First-Team All-Southern Athletic Association and SAA All-Tournament honors and he was named 2014 BSC Man of the Year.
Birmingham Southern won the conference tournament Nordgren’s sophomore and lost in the SSA Tournament title game in 2013. He played in a summer league in Illinois last summer.
At Etowah, Nordgren played under current EHS principal Jeff Colgrove for three seasons and for Kevin Horton his senior year.
“When I look back at high school now, I was more of a thrower than a pitcher,” said Nordgren. “In college, I learned that it’s all about your approach. I also got bigger and developed more pitches.”
Nordgren admitted that he’s not a flamethrower, describing himself as a ground ball pitcher who relies on his defense to make the plays.
“I don’t overpower guys; I try to let them get themselves out. You’ve got to have a lot of faith in the eight guys playing behind you.”
Nordgren is not putting all his eggs in one basket, either. With a BS degree in mathematics, his ‘Plan B’ was enrolling at Auburn University this fall to work toward a masters degree in engineering.
Nordgren did not have much time to pack his bags or say his goodbyes, as he reported for rookie ball in Fort Myers, Fla., on Thursday (June 12).
“I realize that there’s a lot of hard work ahead of me, but I’m going to keep playing as long as someone’s willing to give me a jersey,” he said.