Journal & Topics Media Group

Big League Teams Take 4 Area Athletes In Draft




The 2017 Major League Baseball draft has wrapped up and a few Journal-area athletes were named among the 1,215 selections.

Will Kincanon (Riverside/Riverside-Brookfield HS/Triton College/Indiana State University) was taken in the 11th round (No. 327) by the Chicago White Sox. He spent two seasons at Triton and went 5-2 with a 2.77 ERA his final season before transferring to Indiana State. He went 5-5 with a 5.24 ERA in 2017 for Indiana State, but recorded 93 strikeouts to just 35 walks.

Mike Danielak (Mount Prospect/Hersey/Dartmouth) was taken in the 19th round (No. 561) by the Oakland Athletics. He was drafted in 28th round (No. 855) a year before by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he didn’t sign with the team.

Danielak was the eighth Hersey player to be drafted who was coached by recently-retired Hersey manager Bob Huber. The other players were Edward Tolzien (18th round, 2001, Anaheim Angels), Alex Morales (46th round, 2003, Montreal Expos), Ken Wieda (48th round, 2006, Pirates), Scott Kuhns (41st round, 2006, Pirates), John Grim (44th round, 2007, White Sox), Scott Kelley (23rd round, 2009, Kansas City Royals) and Joseph Perricone (40th round, 2011, Tampa Bay Rays).

“Good for him,” Huber said when told Danielak was drafted again. “We were fortunate to have him and Trevor Haas as our 1-2. Each time those two guys took the mound you knew we were in the game. Mike had a bulldog mentality on the mound. Once he started a game he wasn’t going out. He was very focused and driven to succeed. He went off to Dartmouth and was a great student, not surprisingly. He comes from a great family.”

Huber said Danielak’s passion and drive made his job easy.

Danielak was the 41st Dartmouth player drafted, according to the university, and 11th overall for Hersey since the draft started in 1965, according to thebaseballcube.com.

Danielak went 7-2 with a 2.64 ERA to go with 55 strikeouts and just 10 walks this season. In his career, he went 11-11 with a 3.60 ERA and 3 saves in 155 innings pitched.

Huber has helped develop many great players over the years as he won over 430 games, but it wasn’t all him if you ask. He let out a big laugh and said he was just lucky to have such talent living in Hersey’s attendance area.

“It wasn’t just me,” Huber said. “I had help from Tom Barnard and many great assistant coaches. If a kid wanted to play college baseball or whatever, we would do all we could to help them achieve that.”

Huber said he is excited to see all of Danielak’s hard work pay off.

Ryan Lidge (Barrington/Barrington HS/University of Notre Dame), who was born in Arlington Heights, was taken in the 20th round (No. 602) by the New York Yankees. Lidge, the cousin of two-time MLB All-Star Brad Lidge (26-32 record, 3.54 ERA, 225 saves), was a strong catcher, throwing out 24 batters and posting a .992 fielding percentage. Lidge ended his career at Notre Dame with a .239 BA (150-for-627) with 4 HR, 92 RBI, 36 doubles, 2 triples and 69 runs scored.

Henry Marchese (Stevenson) was taken in 34th round (No. 1,008) by San Diego Padres for the final Journal-area pick. He batted .485 (50-for-103), 5 HR, 28 RBI, 43 runs, 3 2B, 4 3B, 28 SB, 13 BB, 11 K in 31 games this past season.

The four players drafted from the Journal-area join the 28 drafted from 2012-2016.

<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”><strong>Recent Journal-area draft picks</strong></span>:

<strong>2016</strong>

* Danny Woodrow (Loyola Academy), 12th round (No. 355), Detroit Tigers

* Matt Dennis (Arlington Heights/Rolling Meadows/Bradley University), 14th round (No. 410), Colorado Rockies

* Michael Danielak (Hersey/Dartmouth), 28th round (No. 855), Pittsburgh Pirates

* John Hendry (Niles Notre Dame), 32nd round (No. 950), Colorado Rockies

* Danny Rafferty (Loyola Academy/Bucknell University), 35th round (No. 1,042), Oakland Athletics

* David Fleita (Park Ridge/Maine South), 37th round (No. 1,105), Detroit Tigers

* Welby Malcewski (Prospect/Auburn), 37th round (No. 1,109), Arizona Diamondbacks

* Sam Ferri (Norridge/Niles Notre Dame), 38th round (No. 1,148), New York Yankees

<strong>2015</strong>

* Adam Walton (Buffalo Grove/Stevenson/University of Illinois), 20th round (No. 613), Baltimore Orioles

* Fitz Stadler (Glenview/Glenbrook South), 32nd round (No. 953), Chicago Cubs

* Mike Martin (Buffalo Grove/Stevenson/Harvard), 33rd round (No. 998), Oakland Athletics

* Brenden Spillane (Wheeling/Wheeling HS), 34th round (No. 1,027), Pittsburgh Pirates

* Luke Harrison (Glenview/Glenbrook South/Indiana University), 35th round (No. 1,061), St. Louis Cardinals

<strong>2014</strong>

* Daniel Savas (Rosemont/East Leyden/Illinois State University), 19th round (No. 570), Arizona Diamondbacks

* Ronnie Muck (Park Ridge/Maine South/University of Illinois), 30th round (No. 899), Los Angeles Angels

* Kyle Ruchim (Buffalo Grove/Stevenson/Northwestern), 39th round (1,185), St. Louis Cardinals

<strong>2013</strong>

* Michael Tauchman (Palatine/Fremd/Bradley University), 10th round (No. 289), Colorado Rockies

* Clint Terry (Palatine/Fremd/Lee University), 18th round (No. 542), Milwaukee Brewers

* Scott Firth (Buffalo Grove/Stevenson/Clemson University), 19th round (No. 559), Colorado Rockies

* Brett Kay (St. Viator), 20th round (No. 612), San Francisco Giants

* Ryan Tuntland (Des Plaines/Maine West/West Virginia), 29th round (No. 882), San Francisco Giants

<strong>2012</strong>

* Chris Serritella (Glenview/Glenbrook South/Southern Illinois University), 4th round (No. 158), Philadelphia Phillies

* Derek DeYoung (Downers Grove/Plainfield/Oakton Community College), 18th round (No. 559), Oakland Athletics

* Kevin Ross (Chicago/Niles West), 8th round (No. 256), Pittsburgh Pirates

* Jonathan Weaver (Franklin Park/East Leyden/Central Michigan), 21st round (No. 662), Tampa Bay Rays

* Jason Leblebijian (Arlington Heights/Prospect/Bradley University), 25th round (No. 775), Toronto Blue Jays

* Jon Savarise (Lincolnshire/Stevenson/Northern Illinois), 33rd round (No. 1,011), Chicago White Sox

* Eric Heckaman (played for Harper College in 2007), 35th round (No. 1,067), Detroit Tigers

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