Bucs' Williams Selected by Kansas City Royals

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern RHP Ali Williams has been selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 2011 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft on Wednesday afternoon.    Williams was the fifth pick of the 34th round on Wednesday afternoon. 

Williams, a redshirt junior who transferred to CSU after two seasons at USC Salkehatchie, made 22 appearances for the Buccaneers in 2011 with four starts.  He finished the season 2-2 with an ERA of 5.53, giving up 44 hits and 26 earned runs in 42.1 innings.  Williams struck out 45 batters on the season, including six in the team’s 5-0 loss to Gardner-Webb in the 2011 Big South Tournament. 

The 2011 MLB draft marks the second consecutive year a CSU pitcher has been selected, with former Buc Tyler Thornburg selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the third round of the 2010 draft.  Williams is the fifth Buccaneer since 2002 to be taken in the draft, with Matt Coenon marking CSU’s highest selection (second round) in 2002.  R.J. Swindle (2004) and Bobby Parnell (2005) became the first two CSU players to appear in major league games and were drafted in the 14th and ninth rounds of their respective drafts. 

As league, the Big South marked one of its most successful drafts with 11 players taken on the first day and a record 17 taken in the first 42 rounds.    Coastal Carolina’s Anthony Meo was the first pick out of the BSC, going in the second round (63rd overall) to the Arizona Diamondbacks.   The Chanticleers had four players taken in the first 30 rounds, while the Liberty Flames had four selections as well.