Royals draft connolly, vt's invaluable swingman in 10th round

Sam Alves

July 12, 2021

BLACKSBURG —The Kansas City Royals selected Virginia Tech left-handed pitcher Shane Connolly in the tenth round (No. 289 overall) of the MLB draft Monday, the Hokies’ first player drafted in 2021 — the 15th straight year a player has been drafted from the program.

Connolly posted a 4.14 ERA over 63 innings in 21 appearances as a Hokie, striking out 81 and walking 14 in 2021, his first year in Blacksburg following three at The Citadel.

With a wipeout slider as his out pitch, the 6-foot-2 southpaw started the season out of the bullpen — his preferred role — before starting for Tech when starters Peyton Alford and later Chris Gerard were injured.

Connolly then finished the season in a relief role, tossing five innings of shutout, one-hit ball in a 3-2 ACC Championships loss to Virginia.

Against the ‘Hoos in the regular season, Connolly closed Tech’s 6-3 win on Saturday night before going 4 ⅔ in a Sunday start.

As the most trusted arm out of the bullpen, Connolly’s departure, should he sign, will leave John Szefc looking even harder for answers from his young bullpen. Szefc mentioned the right-handed duo of freshman Griffin Green and sophomore Graham Firoved throughout the season as promising names, whose emergence now takes on even greater importance.

Connolly has proven himself capable of balling in higher levels of competition, looking the part in the ACC after years in the Southern Conference.

“I think the biggest thing is that you can’t make as many mistakes in the ACC [compared to the Southern Conference],” Connolly said of the after an early-May home series against Virginia. “These hitters are really good. They definitely have a better eye, I’d say; they don’t chase as many pitches as a mid-major player. That’s probably the biggest difference: just trying to get balls past hitters because they really don’t change as much as they did at The Citadel.”

Next up, should he sign for the slot value ($147,770), is the Royals farm system, where just like in his season in Blacksburg, he’ll be thrown into a rebuilding organization looking to reach the successes of yesteryear.