UF's LaPorta Taken In First Round Of The MLB Draft
Thursday, June 7, 2007 | Baseball
University of Florida senior first baseman Matt LaPorta (Port Charlotte, Fla.) was selected in the first round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft on Thursday by the Milwaukee Brewers. Chosen seventh overall, LaPorta is the first Gator taken in the opening round since Brad Wilkerson was picked 33rd by the Montreal Expos in 1998. Since the draft's inception in 1965, this marks the 11th time in school history that a UF player has been a first-round choice.
"This is an exciting day for Matt," said former head coach Pat McMahon. "He has worked hard to achieve his goals at the University of Florida and we are all tremendously proud of his accomplishments. This is an important day, as each baseball player grows up dreaming of having a professional career. The draft process is the first step in realizing those dreams."
The 2007 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and a Louisville Slugger All-American, LaPorta became the seventh player in school history to eclipse the .400 plateau in a campaign with a .402 batting average. He established single-season marks for both slugging percentage (.817) and on-base percentage (.582) and led UF in home runs for the third-consecutive year with 20 round-trippers. A finalist for the prestigious USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award, LaPorta completed his collegiate career third on the SEC's all-time list with 74 dingers, a total which ranks among the top 10 in Division I history. His 206 runs batted in are second on UF's chart behind Wilkerson (214) and he was the squad's leader in nine different offensive categories during the '07 campaign.
A first-team All-SEC pick for the second time, LaPorta batted a league-high .446 in league play and ranked first in slugging percentage (.904) and on-base percentage (.627). He boasted a career-high 20-game hitting streak between March 23 and May 4, a span in which he batted .466. In addition, the first baseman reached base in 51 of the 52 games he played this season and totaled 20 multiple-hit outings and 13 multiple-RBI games. LaPorta struck out just 16 times in 244 plate appearances and drew an SEC-best 55 walks, 30 of which were intentional. He was the first player in SEC history to receive the league's Player of the Year accolade twice.
All-Time Gator Baseball First-Round Draft Picks
| Player | Year | Team (Choice) |
| Jim Watkins | 1978 | Atlanta Braves (1st in the June - Secondary Phase) |
| Randy O'Neal | 1981 | Detroit Tigers (15th in the June - Secondary Phase) |
| Rich Rice | 1983 | Baltimore Orioles (3rd in the June - Secondary Phase) |
| Robby Thompson | 1983 | San Francisco Giants (2nd in the June - Secondary Phase) |
| Scott Ruskin | 1986 | Montreal Expos (8th in the January - Secondary Phase) |
| Jamie McAndrew | 1989 | Los Angeles Dodgers (28th compensation) |
| John Burke | 1991 | Houston Astros (6th) |
| John Burke | 1992 | Colorado Rockies (27th) |
| Marc Valdes | 1993 | Florida Marlins (27th) |
| Brad Wilkerson | 1998 | Montreal Expos (33rd compensation) |
| Matt LaPorta | 2007 | Milwaukee Brewers (7th) |
The original First-Year Player Draft Rule called for drafting sessions to be held twice a year, January and June, with a regular phase and a secondary phase held in each draft. In 1987, baseball dissolved all but the regular phase of the June session. The secondary phase was held after the regular phase and was only for players who had been previously drafted but were not signed by the club that drafted them.
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