Highland alum Zane Barnhart drafted in 17th round by Orioles

Seeing a lifelong dream come true, former Highland standout Zane Barnhart was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 17th round of the Major League Baseball Draft on Tuesday evening. The 5-foot-10, 205-pound Barnhart was selected with the 511th overall selection. "This is something that I've been looking forward to pretty much the whole time I've been playing baseball," he said. "It's great that it finally happened." Barnhart, the first player from a Medina County high school to be drafted since Medina's Austin Havekost was picked in the 17th round by Toronto in 2018, found out he was selected while on a Zoom call with his draft advisor. The right-handed reliever had attracted attention from major league clubs this summer through the MLB Draft League, in which he compiled a 1-0 record in 10 appearances (1 start) with a 1.00 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and .098 batting average against for the Niles-based Mahoning Valley Scrappers. He struck out 30 in 18 innings. "I knew (Baltimore) was interested," Barnhart said. "I knew there were a few teams that were interested (through my advisor) and they were one of them. I didn't have any interactions with them myself." Barnhart transferred to Division I West Virginia earlier this summer, but plans to forgo his final year of college eligibility and accept the Orioles' $100,000 offer. Lightly recruited out of high school as the 387th-ranked player in Ohio in the class of 2020 by Prep Baseball Report, Barnhart signed with D-II Hillsdale (Mich.) following his time with the Hornets. He spent three years with the Chargers. "I'd like to thank my friends, family, coaches and teammates that have been with me along this journey," he said. Barnhart was one of the most successful closers in D-II baseball and most respected relievers in the Great-Midwest Athletic Conference the last two years. Last season, Barnhart was named D-II All-Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association, the D-II Conference Commissioners Association and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association after leading Hillsdale (26-26) to only its second .500 season or better in 20 years. Barnhart went 5-1 with six saves, a 2.06 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings. Each of those statistics were career bests. He also won his only collegiate start by recording seven strikeouts in six innings of one-run baseball against Trevecca Nazerene. For his career at Hillsdale, Barnhart went 6-5 with 13 saves, a 3.28 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 74 innings. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.