Griff McGarry is high voltage. This according to the University of Virginia Baseball Twitter feed Monday afternoon, just after McGarry was announced as the fifth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies.
The former Menlo School standout certainly brought the thunder in his last two starts at Virginia, throwing seven shutout inning in Game 2 of the Super Regional playoffs in a 4-0 win over Dallas Baptist, then taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his College World Series debut before settling for a no-decision against eventual national champion Mississippi State.
It was stellar finish for the right-hander, who went 0-5 on the season. Despite going winless in 2021, McGarry celebrated Monday with his family back in his hometown of Atherton when he was announced as the 145th overall pick of the MLB First-Year Player Draft.
“It was pretty awesome,” McGarry said. “I hugged my family and I was able to kind of breathe for a second, watched a little bit what they had to say, and then a couple minutes later got on the phone with my agent and he gave me a big congrats. So it was awesome.”
McGarry said he was a bit surprised to be drafted by the Phillies. He’d had some contact with Phillies area scout Kellan McKeon a few years back, he said. But it had been long enough that Monday’s draft call seemed out of the blue.
“I’m really, really excited to be selected by them,” McGarry said.
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McGarry was one of four Virginia players to be drafted Monday. Third baseman Zack Gelof was selected in the second round by the Oakland A’s, and pitcher Mike Vasil was selected in the eighth round by the New York Mets. The Cavaliers’ highest draftee was second-rounder Andrew Abbott, a left-handed pitcher with whom McGarry — along with freshman Jake Berry — combined for a no-hitter May 14 in a 17-0 win against Wake Forest.
McGarry also joins a select list as the fourth former Menlo School pitcher ever to be drafted, along with Freddy Avis (out of Stanford in 2012); Andy Suiter (UC Davis, 2009); and Chuck Huggins (UC Santa Barbara, 2008).
Other college draftees who played at Menlo include: outfielder Gary Johnson (Brigham Young, 1999); infielder Jason Armstrong (Trinity, 2004); infielder Ryan Cavan (UC Santa Barbara, 2009); infielder Kenny Diekroeger (Stanford, 2012); and infielder Danny Diekroeger (Stanford, 2014).
Two players have been drafted directly out of Menlo: outfielder Kevin Bass (1977) and outfielder John Paye (1983).
McGarry said with some certainty he intends to sign with the Phillies.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I’m really excited for what they have to offer and moving forward with whatever they bring.”
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