Maholm Selected By Pittsburgh In First Round; Papelbon, Maniscalco Picked By Bosox, Devil Rays
Maholm was one of three Diamond Dogs selected in the first eight rounds on opening day of Major League Baseball's 2003 First-Year draft.
Junior relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon of Jacksonville, Fla., was tabbed by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round while senior shortstop Matthew Maniscalco of Oxford, Ala., was taken by Tampa Bay in the eighth round.
A first-team All-SEC selection, Maholm compiled a 9-2 record with a 2.76 earned run average as a junior, leading Mississippi State in wins, innings pitched (107.2) and strikeouts (101). He has posted a 27-10 career record with a 3.54 ERA, ranking third at MSU with 267 career strikeouts and fourth with 305.1 innings pitched.
Maholm is the first left-handed pitcher and the first Southeastern Conference player selected in this year's draft. First baseman Will Clark (second pick, San Francisco, 1985) and pitcher B.J. Wallace (third pick, Montreal, 1992) are the only two previous Mississippi State players to have been selected earlier in the Major League draft.
Papelbon compiled a 6-2 record with seven saves and a 2.28 earned run average as a junior. The relief ace appeared in 25 games, recording 54 strikeouts in 47.1 innings. In three seasons the hard-throwing right-hander notched a 9-6 record with a 2.90 ERA and 13 saves, seventh-most by a Bulldog hurler.
A fixture in the Bulldog infield for four years, Maniscalco started all 246 career games at shortstop. The first player selected in the eighth round, he ranked among the team's hitting leaders as a senior, concluding the 2003 campaign with a .338 batting average and leading the club in hits (94) and stolen bases (20). He set the school career record with 993 at-bats, finished fourth with 279 hits, fifth with 54 doubles, fourth with 11 triples and sixth with 46 stolen bases. He also set the MSU single season and career records for fielding percentage by a shortstop (.967 ?€? 2001; .957 ?€?2000-2003).