Round 37 | Zach Daly | CF | Lander University (SC) | SIGNED

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Sitting with his mother Cherie Wilson in their house in Gastonia’s Foxfire Run community on Saturday, Zach Daly was hoping to get a phone call or see his name on the computer screen during the 2016 Major League Baseball draft.

Daly got both – and it’s a memory he’ll never forget.


“It’s just an unreal feeling,” said Daly, who was chosen in the 37th round of the draft by the Miami Marlins. “They called me on the phone about a minute before it happened and then my name pops up on the screen.”


Daly was Gaston County’s lone major league draft pick this year – after a record four players were chosen in the 2015 draft.


A 6-foot-2, 190-pound outfielder who graduated from Forestview High School in 2012, the 22-year-old Daly was chosen after a record-setting season at Lander University in Greenwood, S.C.


Originally signed by the University of North Carolina where he played two seasons for the Tar Heels, Daly transferred in 2015 to play for the Bearcats.


After injuries limited Daly to 13 games in 2015, he set a school record with 23 home runs for Lander this spring while also helping the Bearcats to a third-place finish in the NCAA Division II World Series in Cary.


For his efforts – and .291 batting average and 77 RBIs in 60 starts this season for the Bearcats (44-16) – Daly was named third team All-American and first team All-Southeast Region and All-Peach Belt Conference.


Still, Saturday’s draft selection culminated a long process while fulfilling a lifelong goal.


“It’s been my dream forever,” Daly said of playing professional baseball. “To get that call was unreal. And to be able to share that excitement with my mom was even more special.”


Daly was one of a record four Lander players to be chosen in the major league draft; Brandon White (12th round Atlanta Braves), Colby Lusignan (28th round Miami Marlins) and Will Jones (28th round New York Yankees) were the others.


Daly was scouted by Blake Newsome and signed his contract with the Marlins on Saturday night. On Wednesday, he flies to the organization’s Jupiter, Fla., training complex for a medical physical and will be assigned to either the Marlins rookie team in the Florida Gulf Coast League or the Class A Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League.


If he’s assigned to Batavia, he’d be reunited with two-time teammate Reilly Hovis, a ninth-round pick of the Marlins in last year’s draft, is slated to make his professional debut as the starting pitcher of the team’s season-opener on Friday.


Hovis, also a 2012 Forestview High graduate, played with Daly for two years at UNC and is fully recovered from last April’s elbow ligament reconstruction surgery.


“It would be great if I went to Batavia,” Daly said. “Reilly contacted me after I got drafted and congratulated me on joining the organization. Hopefully, we’ll get to play together again soon.”

http://www.gastongazette.com/sports/...gin-pro-career