Baseball Atlantic 10 Conference

VCU's Vimael Machin Selected by Chicago Cubs in 2015 MLB Draft

Richmond, Va. - With pick number 293 in the 2015 MLB Draft, the Chicago Cubs selected VCU shortstop Vimael Machin.

With the selection, Machin becomes the first Ram drafted since 2013 and the first to be drafted this high since 2008. The Puerto Rico native hit .339 this season for the Black and Gold and drove in 53 runs, both of which led the team. During his four-year career he certainly left his mark on the program, ranking fifth all-time games played and at-bats and seventh all-time in hits and RBI. The shortstop also earned three all-conference honors during his career in addition to being named the most outstanding player at this year's NCAA Regional in Dallas Baptist.

Coming to Richmond from the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School, Machin took hold of the starting shortstop job his freshman year and never relinquished that position, starting 226 games there. His play the last month of this season helped propel the Rams into an NCAA Super Regional for the first time in team history, making VCU just the fifth #4 seed to ever make it that far.

"Congratulations to Vimael, nobody deserves this more and nobody has worked harder for it than he has," said VCU head coach Shawn Stiffler. "With the way he played the last three weeks of the season, I think a lot of people were able to see him as the kind of player that we always knew he was. The Chicago Cubs are getting a fantastic player on the field and an ever better young man off of it."