Minnesota Twins select Bethune-Cookman's Nolan Santos in 2023 MLB Draft

The first HBCU player selected in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft was a Bethune-Cookman Wildcat.

Nolan Santos, a right-handed pitcher, went in the seventh round, 207th overall, to the Minnesota Twins Monday. He is the first B-CU player chosen since Anthony Maldonado in 2019 and the highest since Michael Cruz in 2016.

“(The Twins) are getting a hard worker,” Bethune-Cookman head coach Johnny Hernandez said. “They’re getting a straight competitor, a bulldog on the mound. But they’re also getting a team-first individual.

“No matter what individual accolades Nolan was able to earn this year, it was all about the team and what he was able to do to make not only the program but his teammates around him better. They’re going to get a really good, quality, high-character individual that is going to represent not only Bethune-Cookman but the SWAC as well.”

During his junior season in Daytona Beach, Santos made 16 starts and finished with a 3.51 earned run average in 97 ⅓ innings. He struck out 138 batters, slotting him sixth in all of Division I college baseball. The Wildcats advanced to the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship, where they lost to Florida A&M.

Santos stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 200 pounds. His fastball can touch the mid-90s, and he uses a slider and changeup as off-speed pitches.

Last week, the Miami native was one of 50 athletes who competed in the inaugural HBCU Swingman Classic, a showcase founded by Ken Griffey Jr.

Santos came to Bethune-Cookman before the 2020 season, but his freshman campaign was cut short by COVID. He played the 2021 season at Miami Dade College due to B-CU opting out of the 2020-21 athletic year.

He returned to the Wildcats in 2022, striking out a team-high 113 batters and posting a 4.38 ERA.

This spring, Santos notched All-SWAC First-Team honors.

“This was a goal of his when he first stepped on campus,” Hernandez said. “Now, the work starts.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Minnesota Twins make B-CU's Nolan Santos first HBCU player drafted