Three former Idaho high school pitchers taken on final day of MLB Draft

Three more former Idaho high school baseball players heard their names called Tuesday during the final day of the MLB Draft.

The Oakland A’s took Post Falls grad Jake Pfennigs in the 13th round (394th overall), the Miami Marlins picked Wood River grad Ike Buxton in the 15th round (442nd overall), and the Boston Red Sox selected Bishop Kelly grad Connor Butler in the 20th and final round (609th overall). All three graduated from high school in 2018.

The trio joins former Rocky Mountain standout Gabriel Hughes, who went 10th overall to the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, as selections in this year’s draft.

Pfennigs, a 6-7, right-handed starting pitcher, just finished his junior season at Oregon State, where he went 4-1 with a 3.96 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 36 ⅓ innings. The Padres originally drafted him in the 35th round out of high school, but he declined to sign.

Pfennigs also excelled on the basketball court at Post Falls, finishing his senior season as the 5A All-Idaho Player of the Year. He drew interest from multiple Pac-12 basketball programs before opting to focus on baseball.

Buxton, a 6-3, right-handed starting pitcher, signed with Boise State out of high school. When the Broncos cut their program in 2020, he transferred to Lipscomb, a Division I program in Tennessee. He went 7-3 with a 3.86 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 74 ⅔ innings this spring.

Butler, a 6-foot left-handed relief pitcher, went 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 22 innings this spring as a junior at California’s Biola University (NCAA Division II). He held opponents to a .071 batting average.

Butler wrapped up his Bishop Kelly career as a first-team 4A Southern Idaho Conference selection as a pitcher and outfielder. He originally signed to play with Hawaii and also pitched at Spokane Falls Community College before spending the past two seasons at Biola.