Secaucus, NJ - For the
third time in 12 years Messiah College had a player selected in the Major League Baseball draft, as pitcher
Steven Ridings was chosen this afternoon by the Seattle Mariners in the 29th round with the 867th pick.
The draft, which started on Thursday with rounds one and two, continued with rounds three through 10 on Friday. On Saturday the final 30 rounds were completed, with more than 1,200 total players drafted across the three-day event.
Ridings joins fellow right handed pitcher David Henninger '05 (21st round) and outfielder Chris Heisey '06 (17th) as the only Falcons to ever hear their name called in the annual MLB event. Chris Regan '05, the batterymate of Henninger, was also signed during the 2005 draft weekend, though his deal came as a free agent after he went unselected.
Of the Messiah players drafted thus far only Heisey made it to The Big Show, doing so first with the Cincinnati Reds in 2010. He has played in every season since then and holds a career line of .244/.302/.421 with 56 home runs, 161 RBI, and 199 runs scored. He is currently playing with the Washington Nationals.
Steven Ridings now begins the journey to the Big Leagues after putting together a tremendous season for Messiah in 2016. He went 7-4 overall in 14 starts with a 1.72 ERA, and across 83.2 innings pitched Ridings allowed just 65 hits and 21 walks against 99 strikeouts. As the season wore on Ridings was even better as he allowd just a single earned run over his last 34 innings pitched (0.26 ERA) to help the Falcons advance to the MAC Commonwealth Championship against Widener. In his only posteason start Ridings threw one of the biggest gems in program history: a complete-game (nine innings) with just a single earned run and two walks against 14 strikeouts in a 4-1 win over No. 1 seed Alvernia.
Ridings also earned a save in his only other postseason showing this season, doing so by inducing a flyout with the bases loaded against Stevenson to seal a 3-1 win.
This year Ridings set career-best marks in ERA (1.72), wins (7), appearances (14), starts (12), innings pitched (83.2), HR allowed (0), batting average against (.207), and strikeouts (99).
He will now await his minor league assignment from the Mariners who, at the Major League level, are 34-27 and three games back of the Texas Rangers in the American League West.