It didn鈥檛 take Michael Gretler long this past summer at Royal Athletic Park to flash glimpses of why the Boston Red Sox drafted him in 2014.
The third-baseman, headed into his sophomore season with the Oregon State Beavers of the NCAA Pac-12, used his quickness and six-foot-two reach to ample advantage and was a defensive standout in the hottest corner of the diamond. He also put up some decent numbers for the Victoria HarbourCats of the West Coast League with a .236 batting average and .373 on-base percentage in 32 appearances.
The HarbourCats announced Wednesday that Gretler will return for the 2016 WCL season.
鈥淸Gretler] can provide so many things for us defensively, and always seemed to get on base when we needed it most,鈥� said HarbourCats GM Jim Swanson, in a statement.
Drafted after batting .395 as a senior and leading his Bonney Lake high school team to the 2014 state final, Gretler was ranked the No. 5 prep baseball prospect in Washington state that year. He chose not to sign with the Red Sox in order to further develop in college ball. Gretler is eligible to re-enter the MLB draft in 2017.
Gretler is the eighth player so far to return to the HarbourCats for 2016. He joins catcher Nick Meyer of Cal-Poly, infielder Griffin Andreychuk of Seattle University, outfielders P.J. Floyd from Sacramento State and A.J. Alcantara of UC-Irvine, and pitchers Austin Dondanville of Cal-Poly, Josh Walker of Orange Coast College and Nick Wojtysiak of Paradise Valley College.
The HarbourCats also announced Wednesday the signing of a pack of Bulldogs 鈥� four players from Fresno State. Joe Prior is a catcher, Scott Silva an infielder, Jake Stone an outfielder and Mark Reece a pitcher. Fresno State proved a good source of players for Victoria last season with hurler Dominic Topoozian and sluggers Torin Goldstein and Austin Guibor, all three of whom were productive players.
