SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Oakland Athletics on Saturday made Slippery Rock University junior pitcher Lou Trivino their 11th-round pick in the 2013 amateur baseball draft.
Trivino, the 341st player selected in this year’s draft, was the first Rock baseball player drafted since catcher-first baseman Matt Adams was selected in the 23rd round (699th overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2009 draft.
Adams is currently a member of the Cardinals’ Major League Baseball team.
Trivino was the second Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference player selected in this year’s draft, behind only Mansfield University pitcher Nick Keener, the 10th-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A native of Green Lane, Pa., and graduate of Upper Bucks Christian High School, Trivino has one collegiate season of eligibility remaining, but is expected to sign a professional contract in the next few days.
Trivino will probably start his pro career as a member of the Athletics’ rookie-league team in Arizona. But the 6-foot-5, 225-pound right-hander may instead be assigned to the Burlington-based Vermont Lake Monsters, Oakland’s short-season Class A, New York-Penn League team, or the Beloit Snappers, Oakland’s long-season Class A, Midwest League team based in Wisconsin.
As a member of The Rock last spring, Trivino compiled a 7-5 win-loss record with a 1.83 earned run average and set SRU single-season (92) and career (227) strikeout records.
Trivino pitched eight complete games, one no-hit shutout and five total shutouts in 12 starts as a junior and led the PSAC in opposing hitters’ batting average (.193) while ranking second in ERA and third in strikeouts
Those numbers earned Trivino first-team Daktronics, Inc., All-Atlantic Region, second-team American Baseball Coaches Association all-region, honorable mention National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association all-region and second-team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division honors in 2013.
Trivino was a first-team NCBWA and Daktronics all-region, first-team All-PSAC-West and honorable mention NCBWA All-America selection as a sophomore in 2012 after he completed an 8-3 record with a 1.78 ERA. He earned second-team All-PSAC-West and honorable mention NCBWA all-region honors as a freshman in 2011.
The highest-drafted Rock player since Gary Gill was an eighth-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982, Trivino was the fifth highest overall pick in SRU baseball history.
Right-handed pitcher Garry Grafton, a sixth-round selection by the Detroit Tigers in the 1976 draft, stands as SRU’s highest-picked player. Gill and Grafton’s teammate and fellow right-handed pitcher Kevin Keenan (1976, Texas Rangers) were both eighth-round picks and in 1976. Right-hander Geoff Meadows was the 10th-round pick of the Houston Astros in 1981.
Trivino was the 19th Rock baseball player selected in the amateur baseball draft and the first since both Craig Petulla and Tom Sullivan were picked in the 2000 draft.
