Three St. Cloud Rox taken in MLB draft
SAINT CLOUD — Three St. Cloud Rox players were drafted in this year’s MLB draft.
Brice Matthews, Andrew Pinckney and Nate Rombach were taken in the first, fourth and 18th rounds of the 20-round draft, respectively.
Matthews played two seasons in St. Cloud in 2021 and 2022 and he marks the third Rox player ever drafted in the first round, joining Will Craig (2014) and Michael Busch (2017). Taken by the Houston Astros, Matthews just finished his junior season at Nebraska, where he played shortstop.
Pinckney was a teammate of Matthews in 2021 and played outfield for Alabama this spring. He was picked by the Washington Nationals, who also selected him as a senior catcher out of Dallas Baptist. He played for the Rox in 2020.
In two Northwoods League seasons, Mattews played 84 games for St. Cloud, hitting .288 with eight home runs, 49 RBI and 24 stolen bases. Last year he was named an all-star and competed in the home run derby.
A press release from the team calls Mathews, “A key hitter in the Rox’s 2021 and 2022 seasons that made the Rox the only team in Northwoods League history to have back-to-back 50-win seasons.”
Pinckney hit .292 in 2021 and was an all-star, hitting three homers and four triples. He totaled 37 stolen bases.
In the shortened 2020 season, Rombach played in 23 games and hit two home runs. He was the 86th Rox player drafted since 2012.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Three St. Cloud Rox were drafted by MLB teams
