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Draft | State Preview | 5/22/2013

MLB Draft Preview: Montana

Patrick Ebert

Photo: Perfect Game

In the weeks leading up to the draft, Perfect Game will be providing a detailed overview of each state in the U.S., including the District of Columbia, as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. These overviews will list the state's strengths, weaknesses and the players with the best tools, as well as providing scouting reports on all Group 1 and 2 players as ranked in Perfect Game's state-by-state scouting lists. Please visit this page for all of the links to Perfect Game's 2013 Draft Preview content.

Montana State-by-State List

Similar to Wyoming, there is no interscholastic baseball played at the high school level in Montana, and without that platform, not to mention a smaller population, you simply don't see too many players from the state drafted into professional baseball.

That said, after failing to produce a single pick from 2008-2010, and only six from 2000-2007, Montana saw two players drafted in 2011 and three more a year ago. Ben Roberts (seventh round, 2011, Diamondbacks) somewhat surprisingly opted to attend Washington State, while fellow outfielder Justin Black (fourth round, 2012, Braves) became the fourth highest drafted player from the state in the history of the draft.

While this year may not produce a pick, next year once again looks promising with 3-4 high school players that could be drafted, including one, Slade Heggen, that could be drafted in the top 3-5 rounds.

Read Jeff Dahn's feature about the promising 2014 Montana high school class from this year's Spring Top Showcase here.

STRENGTH: None
WEAKNESS: Prospects
OVERALL RATING (1-to-5 scale): 1

BEST OUT-OF-STATE PROSPECT, Montana Connection: Dan Olinger, 1b, University of Minnesota (CMR Russell High School, Great Falls)
Top 2014 Prospect: Slade Heggen, c/of, Loyola Sacred Heart High School
Top 2015 Prospect: No established candidate

HIGHEST DRAFT PICKS

Draft History: Les Rohr, lhp, West HS, Billings (1965, Mets/1st round, 2nd pick)
2008 Draft: None selected
2009 Draft: None selected
2010 Draft: None selected
2011 Draft: Ben Roberts, of, Sentinel HS, Missoula (Diamondbacks/7th round)
2012 Draft: Justin Black, of, Billings West HS (Braves/4th round)

2012 DRAFT OVERVIEW

College Players Drafted/Signed: None
Junior College Players Drafted/Signed: None
High School Players Drafted/Signed: 3/2

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