Former Woodside hurler Joseph King signs with St. Louis Cardinals

Monday, King — a 2019 graduate of Woodside — embarked on the next leg of his baseball career as he signed a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, after being selected in the ninth round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft last week. Despite his heavy workload at Cal, King said he was feeling spry as ever Monday as he suited up for the Cards in extended spring training in Jupiter, Florida.

“I’m good,” King said. “I’m healthy. It was longer than any season I’ve been a part of, but I had good coaches at Cal that got me ready to prepare for the season.”

The Cardinals stocked up on Pac-12 workhorses in last week’s draft. In addition to King, who ranked 16th in the conference in innings pitched, St. Louis drafted Cooper Hjerpe, the Pac-12 leader with 103 1/3 innings pitched, in the first round out of Oregon State. The Cards also took UCLA right-hander Max Rajcic, who ranked eighth in the Pac-12 with 85 innings pitched, as a sixth-round selection.

For King, the outpouring of emotion in the midst of Cal’s 6-3 win April 9 was testament to the competitor the Cardinals are getting. Was it a taxing outing? Sure. It would be over a month before King earned his next win May 14 against New Mexico. But, in the moment, the 21-year-old looked bulletproof after eight strong innings as he strutted to the dugout that cool April night at Evans Diamond.

“That was a brutal one,” King said.

As for the wave of adrenaline he was riding: “I could have probably gone 50 pitches that night going through the ninth,” he said.

His demeanor was much more low key last Monday when his name was called as the Cardinals’ ninth-round selection on Day 2 of the draft. King enjoyed the draft from his family home in Redwood City, where his mother Evro runs a day care for toddlers.

While draft selections are oftentimes a scene not unlike King’s celebration that April night against Washington — just watch any of the live-streaming glimpses from the living rooms of most first-round picks on Day 1 — the King household was keen to temper any celebrations as not to wake the day care kiddos, who had just laid down for nap time.

“My mom had put all the day care kids down to nap,” King said. “It was nap time. They were all starting to get their sleep and then my face came up on the TV.”

King said he had hoped to get selected earlier on Day 2 but was happy to be a Day 2 selection just the same. The MLB draft was held over three days, with the first two rounds conducted Sunday, rounds 3-10 Monday, and rounds 11-20 Tuesday.

That Monday turned out to be a historic day for Cal, as four Golden Bears — outfielder Dylan Beavers (competitive balance pick, Baltimore); pitcher Steven Zobac (fourth round, Kansas City); pitcher Josh White (fifth round, Miami); and first baseman Nathan Martorella (fifth round, San Diego) — were drafted in the top five rounds, marking a new program record.

With St. Louis, King landed with some familiar faces in Hjerpe and left-handed pitcher Pete Hansen, a third-round pick out of University of Texas, as the three played as teammates at the 2018 Area Code Games.

“This is what we all want,” King said. “Me and the other 19 guys that got picked up in the draft, this is what we all worked for is this chance. I’m not religious or anything, but I feel blessed.”

Cal had six overall players drafted, finishing off the class with shortstop Keshawn Ogans being selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 20th round with the 605th overall pick. The draft consisted of 616 total picks. Ogans, a 2019 graduate of Sacred Heart Cathedral, hails from Daly City.

“I was absolutely ecstatic, to say the least,” King said of hearing Ogans’ name called last Tuesday. “I was hoping to see his name get called. … Keshawn, he deserves it. That guy worked his butt off every season he was at Cal.”