Tag: Aidan Haugh

Two key members of UNC pitching staff taken in MLB Draft on Tuesday

Two more Tar Heel baseball players are off the MLB Draft Board.

I’m convinced that if the North Carolina Tar Heels had better starting pitching, they would’ve made a deeper run in the College World Series.

UNC’s first bit of bad news came weeks before its 2024 season started, when it learned senior pitcher Jake Knapp would miss the year with a UCL (elbow) tear. North thought it initially had a freshman ace in Folger Boaz, then he started to struggle and – later – missed the season’s remainder with a left elbow injury.

With the loss of Knapp and Boaz, though, came opportunity. Two junior Diamond Heel pitchers, by the names of Shea Sprague and Aidan Haugh, took full advantage of their opportunities.

Sprague and Haugh became North Carolina’s number two and three starters. Sprague ended his season with a 3-2 record, 4.23 earned run average and 70 strikeouts, which was second most on the team. Haugh compiled a 4-3 record, with his four victories tied for fourth-most on UNC.

It would be great to have the pair back in Chapel Hill next season, but they’ll be elsewhere – for good reason.

On Tuesday, July 16, Sprague and Haugh were picked in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Sprague, originally from Massachusetts, will play professional baseball for his hometown Red Sox.

Haugh, picked three rounds later, heads up to the Twin Cities and joins a promising AL Central squad.

It’d be a full-circle moment if the pair of former Diamond Heels teammates faced off in the future. Are they the last two to go from North Carolina?

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