Not even the smartest minds in baseball could see a future Cy Young Award winner in their midst. It was the 2022 MLB draft. Two lanky righthanders from small programs, Crowder College in Missouri and Northeastern University, sat idly by as teams rushed to draft polished pitchers from big-time programs or high schoolers who already were blessed (and cursed) to have elite major league velocity as a teen.
Jacob Misiorowski waited through 62 picks, 28 of them pitchers, before the Brewers took him in the second round. Cam Schlittler waited through 219 picks, 113 of them pitchers, before the Yankees selected him in the seventh round.
