Huntington Beach’s Ralphy Velazquez tops area selections in MLB draft
Not for the first time, Huntington Beach High baseball coach Benji Medure celebrated a top-tier talent from his program going in the first round.
Those occasions haven’t gotten old, and neither has the video that captured Ralphy Velazquez reacting to his name being called as the No. 23 overall pick in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft.
Sitting on a couch in a living room jam-packed with family and friends, Velazquez rose to his feet and was given several congratulatory hugs, as a sea of cellphone cameras documented the moment.
“I think what you saw with him was just like a big relief of just, ‘Yeah, this is what I believed in myself. I know I can do this,’” Medure said. “I think the emotion of the moment was pretty special. I have watched that clip of him getting picked probably 50 times, and every time I watch it, it brings me a little bit to tears. It gives me the chills. It really, really does something special every time I watch it.”
Velazquez became Huntington Beach’s third first-round pick in Medure’s time with the program, joining Hank Conger (25th overall to the Angels in 2006) and Nick Pratto (14th overall to the Royals in 2017).
The Oilers utilized Velazquez as both a catcher and a first baseman. He paced the team with a .402 batting average, six home runs, eight doubles and 23 runs batted in during his senior season. The recent graduate also tied for second on the team in stolen bases with five.
A 6-foot-3, 215-pound left-handed hitting catcher, Velazquez helped the Oilers win the National High School Invitational. He had signed with Arizona State.
“We won a [Surf] League title all three years with him,” Medure added. “... We won a regional championship with him. We went to the semifinals of North Carolina twice, and we won it once. We went to the Boras [Classic] finals with him. He is a winner and in every sense of the word. … He’s a nice kid, he’s a great human. He’s a good brother, he’s a good son, he’s a good friend, he’s a great teammate.”
Brandon Winokur, an outfielder from Edison, was selected in the third round (82nd pick) by the Minnesota Twins. Coming into the draft at 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds, the UCLA signee is considered a five-tool player. Winokur hit .365 with nine home runs for the Wave League champion Chargers last season.
Four players with local connections were drafted after competing at the collegiate level. Three of them had played for local high schools.
Jake Brooks, a 2020 graduate of Fountain Valley, was taken in the 11th round (323rd pick) by the Miami Marlins. He spent three seasons at UCLA, making the Opening Day start for the Bruins in each of the last two seasons.
Johnny Olmstead, who graduated from Newport Harbor in 2019, went to the Marlins in the 19th round (563rd pick). As a senior, Olmstead hit .288 with 11 home runs, 48 RBIs, 45 runs scored and 10 stolen bases while manning third base for USC.
The St. Louis Cardinals used the 305th pick (10th round) on UC Irvine outfielder Caden Kendle and the 425th pick (14th round) on Orange Coast College pitcher Jacob Odle.
Kendle, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound outfielder, graduated from Marina in 2020. As a junior, Kendle hit .335 with eight home runs, 16 doubles and three triples. He scored 69 runs and drove in 56 runs.
Odle, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, threw just 14⅓ innings for the Pirates as a freshman, but he led the team in strikeouts per nine innings at a rate of 13.81.
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