Pitchers Magdiel Cotto and Mikey Tepper were taken Tuesday on the third day of the Major League Baseball draft by two different National League teams.
Cotto, a Nation Ford High graduate, was drafted in the 11th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Mikey Tepper, a Fort Mill High graduate, was drafted in the 15th round by the Washington Nationals.
Cotto said he was eating lunch when he was picked. He said he tried to not focus too much on the three-day draft.
“I was trying to stay calm and take it one pick at a time,” he said. “I didn’t like the waiting. It all happened fast. My advisor called me and said the Pirates are going to get you early. I didn’t know early meant three minutes after the draft started. It all happened so fast.”
Cotto moved to Fort Mill while in high school from the Pittsburgh area of Bethel Park, about 20 minutes outside of the city, where he had been living with his family. He is originally a Charlotte native.
“It is a familiar area,” he said. “I am excited.”
A junior at the University of Kentucky, Cotto has been playing in the Cape Cod League and has made 11 appearances with a 3.73 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 31 innings.
Cotto appeared in 16 games for the Wildcats this past season at Kentucky, his second with the team. During his two years at the Lexington school, he went 4-1 in 31 games, starting nine of those.
He started his time in college by signing with the University of South Carolina and went 1-0 in eight games as a freshman.
Cotto graduated from Nation Ford in 2020. He is the second player from Nation Ford to be drafted by a Major League team behind Tyler Causey, who was drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2019, but went to the University of North Carolina instead.
Tepper, who also graduated in 2020, spent last year at Liberty University and the previous two years at Mississippi State University where he was part of their 2021 national championship team.
Tepper is the youngest of three brothers, all Fort Mill High graduates that played college baseball. His father, Marc, also played college baseball and was drafted in 1998 by the then Cleveland Indians.
This past season, Tepper went 4-3 for Liberty as a junior where he struck out 78 batters in 65 innings of work. During his time at Mississippi State, he went 3-2 in two seasons as a freshman and sophomore appearing in 28 games for the Bulldogs.
Tepper is the 16th player from Fort Mill High to be drafted and the first since Garrett Leonard in 2019, who was also a pitcher.
“I am speechless,” Tepper said. “It is awesome. All the work that I have put in has paid off. It is not done yet. It is just beginning for me. This is awesome honestly.”
Tepper said he had been talking with both the Oakland A’s and Nationals, but didn’t know which one was going to pick him. He said he didn’t know which one was going to pick him, but is glad Washington chose him.
“It is going to be good for me to get in there and develop,” he said. “I feel like I can help the team later on in the future.”
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
