The Philadelphia Phillies selected Florida Gators shortstop Dalton Guthrie with the 173rd overall pick in the sixth round of the MLB Draft on Tuesday.
Guthrie, who was named to the All-SEC Defensive team this season, dazzled with the leather at shortstop after taking over for Richie Martin two seasons ago. He’s also the third highest middle infielder drafted under Kevin O’Sullivan behind Martin (20th overall – Oakland) and Nolan Fontana (61st – Houston) and the seventh middle infielder drafted during O’Sullivan’s tenure.
The Minnesota Twins selected Guthrie in the 40th round of the 2014 draft before he decided to enroll at Florida. The Sarasota native has a .289 career batting average. He is hitting .272 this season but continued to play an incredible shortstop despite dealing with a nagging elbow injury that forced him to miss some time this year.
Guthrie is the second Florida Gators drafted this season after Alex Faedo was selected by the Detroit Tigers 18th overall in the first round. As the 173rd pick Guthrie is slotted to earn a $266,800 dollar signing bonus.
@Phillies hope you like #WebGems! pic.twitter.com/HU2cj8DoTY
— Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) June 13, 2017