Hofstra University senior pitcher Jimmy Joyce was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 16th round of the 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
Joyce, who was the 474th overall pick in the draft, becomes the program’s 14th-ever MLB Draft pick. It marks the third time in the last four years that Hofstra has had at least one player selected in the draft with a total of five players picked over the last four drafts.
He earned All-Colonial Athletic Association Second Team honors as a pitcher this season and was an All-CAA Second Team honoree as a utility player in 2019.
Joyce made 42 appearances on the mound for the Pride during his career with 15 starts. He earned six victories, including three as a senior this season. All 11 of his appearances this season came as a starter and he pitched a career-best 73 innings in 2021, making his career total of 140 innings pitched. Joyce also tallied 125 strikeouts during his career, including 89 during the most recent campaign. He had a strong 3.70 earned run average as a senior.
This past season he tallied double-digit strikeouts in five of his last six starts, including 13 against Northeastern on April 10 and 12 versus Delaware on May 1 and 12 at Towson on May 15. The Delaware game saw Joyce throw six innings and earn the win in a 9-0 Pride victory.
Joyce is Hofstra’s 14th-ever MLB Draft selection since the inception of the draft in 1965. He joins Bill Cheslock (1966-32nd Round, St. Louis Cardinals), Ken Singleton (1967 January Draft-1st Round, New York Mets), Donald Ruris (1967-30th Round, Oakland Athletics), Pat Wallace (1982-26th Round, St. Louis Cardinals), Mike Miller (1995-29th Round, Detroit Tigers), Ricky Caputo (2006-24th Round, Washington Nationals), Ethan Paquette (2010-35th Round, Seattle Mariners), Danny Poma (2012-10th Round, Arizona Diamondbacks), Bryan Verbitsky (2013-3rd Round, San Diego Padres), John Rooney (2018-3rd Round, Los Angeles Dodgers), Teddy Cillis (2018-33rd Round, Kansas City Royals), Parker Quinn (2019-25th Round, Washington Nationals), and Vito Friscia (2019-40th Round, Philadelphia Phillies).
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Hofstra University Athletics – Official Athletics Website (gohofstra.com)
