Two more SLO County baseball players sign with MLB teams
Two more baseball standouts from San Luis Obispo County will be moving on to professional baseball careers.
Bradlee Beesley, a Cal Poly outfielder who completed his shortened senior season this spring, wasn’t drafted but signed with the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
And Mac Lardner, a Templeton High graduate who pitched at Gonzaga University, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as an undrafted player.
Beesley hit .286 in four seasons with the Mustangs, including a .305 mark as a freshman, earning a second-team All-Big West Conference honors as a utility player and freshman All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball.
Beesley started 179 games, the second most in Cal Poly’s Division I record book behind Jimmy Allen (212), and his 45 career doubles is tied for ninth all-time at Cal Poly.
Minor league baseball is currently on hold with the possibility of the next season resuming in the spring.
“Things are up in the air,” said Beesley in a news released issued by Cal Poly. “We’ll just have to wait and see. Let’s go!”
Lardner, a 6-foot-4 lefthander, is coming off a shortened season in which he posted a 2.55 earned run average with 33 strikeouts in 24.2 innings, both team highs in 2020, with an 0-2 record.
“Officially a St. Louis Cardinal!!!” Lardner said on Twitter. “I want to thank my family, Gonzaga Baseball and all of the countless teammates and coaches I’ve been lucky to have in my life that made this possible.”
An assessment from the website Prospects Live, analyzing players in the Cape Cod summer league where Lardner played, said in 2019 that Lardner’s fastball velocity was mostly in the 85 to 87 miles per hour range, touching 88.
“His big frame and relatively simple mechanics leave some hope that he can channel his strength and size into some additional fastball velocity,” the site stated. “Not the most exciting player, but he works fast, throws strikes, and changes speeds.”
Lardner also pitched previously for the San Luis Obispo Blues summer league team.
Hunter Barnhart of Paso Robles, who attended St. Joseph High in Santa Maria after transferring from Paso Robles High, was selected in the third round by the Tampa Bay Rays.
Cal Poly pitcher Taylor Dollard was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the fifth round.
Sunday was the first day clubs were allowed to contact draft-eligible free agents and can’t offer more than $20,000, Cal Poly officials said in a statement.
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