June 5, 2012
Davis High School pitcher Ben Eckels picked in 11th round by Arizona Diamondbacks in MLB Draft

Pitcher Ben Eckels of Davis High School was drafted in the 11th round of today's Major League Baseball Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Eckels, a 6-foot, 175-pound hard-throwing senior and the region's top arm this spring, went 7-2 this season for the Blue Devils. Davis won the Delta Valley Conference and reached the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I North finals.

Eckels was superb in the postseason with two victories, striking out 12 to beat Oak Ridge and downing Vacaville in fanning 11. His best pitches are a fastball that tops out at 94 mph and a slider.

Eckels pitched this season in honor of his family and also for Scott Heinig, his pitching coach last season, who was also a close friend and a tutor. Heinig died from a fall during last season. Eckels said that getting drafted would be a "dream come true" to honor Heinig and his family that has watched him compete home and away since his youth in Yolo County.

Eckels and teammate Chris Gnos were this week presented by Davis coach Dan Ariola the program's Bobby Jones MVP Award. Jones is the former Davis High star who died during his senior season from leukemia and has remained an inspiration to scores of players growing up in Davis. He also happens to be Eckels' uncle, making for a powerfully emotional presentation for his family.

Eckels told our good friend Bruce Gallaudet of The Davis Enterprise late today that he will sign and report to work this weekend, after his Davis graduation. Talk about growing up in a hurry. Graduate and report to work, armed with a uniform and baseball hat.
- By Joe Davidson
jdavidson@sacbee.com
Twitter: @sb_joedavidson

About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.

hide comments
blog comments powered by Disqus


About the Prep blog

Bee staff writers Joe Davidson and Bill Paterson provide news, analysis and insight on the area high school sports scene in their Prep Blog. Have a question to ask them? Send them an email any time at jdavidson@sacbee.com or bpaterson@sacbee.com.

Subscribe to Sports Breaking News alerts

Find us on Facebook

Prep Blog on Twitter

Follow "sacbee_preps" and "Sb_joedavidson" on Twitter

May 2013

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
      1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31  

Monthly Archives