Today, July 11th marked the final day of the MLB Draft and we saw some alumni from Wisconsin High Schools get drafted along with one current high school player. Overall we saw some good talent drafted from Wisconsin and the players will be explained below.
LHP Riley Frey (Oshkosh West, 2020; University-Wisconsin Milwaukee)
Riley Frey was drafted by the
Atlanta Braves 579th pick in the MLB Draft on Tuesday. Frey played baseball at
Oshkosh West High School but unfortunately being apart of the Class of 2020 he did not have a senior season due to the
WIAA canceling all spring sports due to Covid-19, after high school he went to play baseball at
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During his time at Oshkosh West he finished with a 6-4 record as a pitcher, had 81 strikeouts in 66 innings, also named
Fox Valley Association Second Team. In 2023 with UW-Milwaukee Panthers he posted a 4.90 ERA with 87 strikeouts.
Avery Owusu-Asideu was drafted by the
Philadelphia Phillies as the 283rd pick in the MLB Draft on Monday. Owusu-Asideu, played Baseball at
Waukesha West High School but unforantuely being apart of the Class of 2020 he did not have a senior season due to the
WIAA canceling all spring sports due to Covid-19, after high school he went to play baseball at
Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. According to
PBR Wisconsin he seemed to be a stud throughout High School having a 88mph Exit Velo, 81mph outfield velo.
Career Stats (via
SIU Cougars Athletics Site)
AVG: .235, 4 HR, 23 RBI’s
George Klassen was drafted by the
Philadelphia Phillies as the 193rd pick in the MLB Draft on Monday. Klassen played baseball at
Port Washington High School but unforantuely being apart of the Class of 2020 he did not have a senior season do the
WIAA canceling all spring sports due to Covid-19, after high school he went to play baseball at the
University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Klassen missed his Freshmen year of college due to having Tommy John surgery, then as a sophomore in college he was mainly a reliever then during the summer he pitched in the
Northwoods League. Klassen during this year of college had one of the best arm speeds in the draft he has touched 102mph before but averaged around 98mph. He ended up being 193rd on the MLB’s pipeline list before the draft.
LHP Christian Oppor (Columbus, 2022; Gulf Coast State College)
Christian Oppor was drafted by the
Chicago White Sox as the 152nd pick in the MLB Draft on Monday. Oppor played baseball at
Columbus High School and was apart of a strong 17-8 squad his senior season, they fell to Jefferson in the WIAA Regional Final 2-0 during his senior season, after High School he went on to play baseball at
Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Florida. In addition originally Oppor was picked by the Athletics in 2022 as an 11th round pick but chose not to sign with them and head to Gulf Coast State College. According to the
CBS Sports writeup, Oppor sits with a mid 90’s fastball, upper 70’s slider and low 80’s changeup.
Dylan Questad was drafted by the
Minnesota Twins as the 150th pick in the MLB Draft on Monday. Questad was drafted out of High School from
Waterford High School in Waterford, Wisconsin. During his high school career he played baseball 3 years at
Waterford High School, with his freshmen season being cancelled because of the
WIAA canceling all spring sports due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Dylan Questad was looked at as one of the best pitchers if not the best in Wisconsin High School Baseball, he won
Gatorade player of the year in 2023 for Wisconsin as well. It seemed to be whenever Waterford’s Baseball team was mentioned Questad would be brought up, during his senior season he led the Waterford Wolverines to co-conference championship with a really tough Union Grove baseball team, if Questad would not have been drafted he was already committed to play Baseball at
University of Arkansas.
My Thoughts: (State Grade: A-)
During the 2023 MLB Draft I had the pleasure to cover most of the Midwest for these last three days and looking at my home state of Wisconsin I think we did pretty well as a draft class this year, we would have had a perfect year according to the mlb.com if
Cal Fischer (Deerfield), Cole Selvig (Regis), Evan Gustafson (Altoona) and Tommy Benson (UW-Milwaukee) were able to get drafted, three of those players would have been straight out of High School one out of an in-state college. Looking around the Midwest I think the State Of Illinois did the best job this year in the Draft they came out with four high school players on the first day of the draft.
(Follow along with my Twitter for more High School coverage with MaxPreps of Baseball, Basketball and Football and I often tweet and write about Professional Sport as well)
By Matt Peck
