Altobelli: Ready for the Rocks
It was a good day for the Illini in today’s MLB draft. Three were drafted. Brandon Wikoff (5th round, Houston), Seth Schwindenhammer (5th round, Red Sox) and Dom Altobelli (16th round, Colorado) will soon be playing baseball and getting paid to do it.
Altobelli was a senior. Wikoff was a junior but any Illini fan paying attention knew he was on his way up. Schwindenhammer was a 2008 recruit and never played for Coach Hartleb’s team.
I did a write up on Altobelli and of Wikoff over at Illinois Baseball Report including some of my favorite photos of each.
Congrats to all three!!
Followup: I read on the Trib that if Schwindenhammer ever makes it to the bigs, his 15-letter last name will be the longest in major league history. I wonder who he would beat. I thought of the pitcher VanLandingham but that’s only 13 letters.
Update: On the final day of the draft, Matt Milroy, another University of Illinois recruit, this one a pitcher, got drafted. Milroy was picked in the 35th round by the Boston Red Sox.
But don’t let me forget Joe Bonadonna. My daughter’s favorite Illini player (maybe it was the way he hustled on the field or maybe it was awesome name), Bonadonna was chosen in the 43rd round by the Texas Rangers. I did a similar write up on him on Illinois Baseball Report with some cool photos (Joe was a great photo subject!).
Congrats again!