Ball State baseball player Brad Snyder was selected by the Cleveland Indians with the 18th pick in the 2003 Major League Baseball draft. He was the highest draftee from the Mid-American Conference.
Mere hours after hearing the news himself, the first words Snyder could find were: "It's crazy."
Snyder, the 2003 MAC Player of the Year, aided Ball State to a 36-21 record along with ranking among the conference's leaders in many of its offensive categories, including being first in runs and total bases while establishing single-season records for Ball State in walks, doubles and runs per game.
"During the season, I wasn't anticipating it," Snyder said, "but at the end of the season I started hearing talk of it. It's still pretty amazing to know that I went that high."
Head coach Greg Beals was happy for Snyder and had no doubt of his value in the draft.
"We knew he was going to be drafted, and we had a feeling he was going to be a first-round pick," Beals said. "He has a dream of being a major league player. He's got a lot of tools as well as the potential to do that, and he's got a great opportunity ahead of him being a first-round pick. He's ready for the challenge of being a professional player."
"Obviously, he's a great player," athletic director Bubba Cunningham said, "and he's been a real asset to Ball State. Both (former coach Rich) Maloney and Coach Beals did a terrific job with him, and his talent speaks for itself."
Snyder's selection marked the second consecutive year a Ball State player was drafted in the first round. Bryan Bullington was the number-one draft pick last season by Pittsburgh, the highest draftee from the MAC in baseball, football or basketball.
"It feels crazy," Snyder said. "I'm still in shock. It really hasn't sunk in yet."
Snyder said he was grateful to Ball State for guiding him.
"Ball State was the first that gave me a chance to play collegiate baseball," he said. "I only had a couple of teams that would give me a chance back in high school. Ball State has a great program and it has helped me with my career."
Both Beals and Cunningham agreed that Snyder's good fortune is part of a continuum of Ball State excellence in baseball.
"It adds to the tradition of (Ball State) getting players to the next level," Beals said. "It gets Ball State recognized with a player going in the first round. We'll use it in the recruiting process, so it's very big in the whole scheme of things to have your program recognized at this level and hopefully other people in our state will realize that."
"We've been very fortunate with the baseball program and having back-to-back years with first-round picks," Cunningham said. "Ball State is really known for having a great baseball program and developing players and Snyder is a really good example of that."
News of the pick comes on the heels of Snyder being selected to the 2003 Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger All-American First Team, again following in the footsteps of Bullington by becoming the second Cardinal to be given the honor. Once again, Snyder was surprised by it.
"It wasn't expected but it's a great highlight to the year and a great honor period," Snyder said.
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