‘A surreal moment’: Clemson shortstop reflects on being selected by Oakland A’s

Logan Davidson’s college career came to an end on Sunday. But his pro career began Monday.

The Oakland A’s took the Clemson shortstop in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft. Davidson is the 15th Clemson player to be taken in the first round and second straight. Seth Beer was picked by the Houston Astros last season.

Davidson spoke with members of the media today and reflected on the feeling he got when he heard his named called last night.

“It was very emotional but I think it was this morning when it kind of hit on me, was that a dream?” Davidson said. “It was a pretty cool experience but I kind of feel like I have been waiting on it to happen for so long now. ... it was a surreal moment and awesome time, having my family there. it was really cool.”

Davidson will head out to Oakland in about a week or 10 days. The slot value for Davidson’s selection is $2,424,600.

Davidson was one of nine shortstops taken in the first round of the draft. He admits he was getting a little nervous when more shortstops were coming off the board and his name wasn’t called.

Davidson, a Charlotte, North Carolina native, hit .291 with 15 homers and 55 and 18 doubles this season for the Tigers and was a second team all-ACC selection.

Davidson, who graduated in May, hit 10 or more homers in each of his three years at Clemson and finished with 42 to go along with 142 RBI. He is the first Clemson player to hit 10 or more homers and steal 10 or more bases in three different years.

Davidson is the second member of his family to be taken in the MLB Draft. Mark Davidson, Logan’s father, finished his college career at Clemson and was taken in the first 11th round of 1982 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins. Mark Davidson played in the majors from 1986-91 with the Twins and Houston Astros and was a volunteer assistant with the Tigers in 2018.

“To be able to share that moment with him, shake his hand and give him a hug,” Davidson said of his dad. “All that hard work that we put in together paid off.”

Baseball America listed Logan Davidson as the 18th-best prospect and he was projected to be drafted between the 15th-30th pick of the first round. D1 Baseball listed Davidson as the fourth-best ACC prospect for the 2019 draft.

MLB Network analysts compared Davidson to New York Mets shortstop Jed Lowrie, who also played for Oakland.

The biggest knock on Davidson was his struggles in the Cape Cod League in the summer which uses wooden bats. He hit just .200 in 79 games in the prestigious summer league. But D1 Baseball’s Aaron Fitt praised Davidson’s potential in a Twitter post Monday night.

“I understand why Davidson went No. 29, there’s some swing-and-miss and he struggled in the Cape. But he’s got top-10-picks talent,” Fitt posted. “I think he’s got the highest upside of all the college shortstops taken in the first round, as a switch-hitter with power and a rifle arm at short.”

SC Draft connections

List of players with SC tries that are not South Carolina Gamecocks picked in 2019 MLB Draft:

Round 1

29. Logan Davidson (Clemson), SS, Oakland A’s

Round 2

46. Nassim Nunez (Clemson commit/Collins Hill HS), SS, Miami Marlins

Round 6

181. Zach Peek, Winthrop, P, Los Angeles Angels

Round 8

228. Griffin McLarty, College of Charleston, P, Baltimore Orioles

10th round

289. Anthony Veneziano, Coastal Carolina, P, Kansas City Royals

290. Nate Pawelczyk, Winthrop, P, Chicago White Sox

315. Mitch Spence, USC Aiken, P, New York Yankees

12th round

355. Gavin Collyer, P, Mountain View HS/Clemson signee, Texas Rangers

364. Kyle Wilkie, Clemson, C, Pittsburgh Pirates

18th round

552. Alex Moore, Lander, P, Chicago Cubs

19th round

574. Cory Wood, Coastal Carolina, 2B, Pittsburgh Pirates

20th round

599. Owen Griffith, P, Clemson, Minnesota Twins

21st round

612. Scott McKeon, 2B, Coastal Carolina, Detroit Tigers

22nd round

672. Elian Almanzar, P, Florence-Darlington Tech, Chicago Cubs

23rd round

706. Zach Biermann, 1B, Coastal Carolina, Houston Astros

24th round

726. Kipp Rollins, P, North Greenville, Seattle Mariners

This story was originally published June 3, 2019 at 10:10 PM.