UPDATED: Kevin Warunek, a Patriots graduate, will join the Philadelphia Phillies.

It didn’t matter to Kevin Warunek that the three-day, 20-round draft was almost over. The Patriot High School alumnus from 2021 was appreciative if a Major League Baseball organization thought he was worth a pick. It doesn’t matter if it’s day one, day two, or day three, according to Warunek. “I heard someone call my name.” In fact, the former left-handed pitcher from Longwood University was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday in the eighteenth round.

On Saturday, Warunek departs for Philadelphia to sign his contract. He will next report to Clearwater, Florida, home of the Phillies’ spring training complex. Warunek refused to say how much he agreed to sign. Warunek might still attend college for one more year. Warunek, a rising senior, spent the previous three seasons as a pitcher for Longwood. He declared on X on June 20 that the “recent coaching changes at Longwood” were the reason he had filed the transfer portal. Then, Warunek announced that he will be moving to Coastal Carolina.

Head coach of the Lancers Chad Oxendine resigned to take a position at Coastal Carolina as an associate head coach. On June 11, Coastal Carolina made the hiring public. The 6-foot-4, 201-pound Warunek, a reliever for the Lancers, has a 2.08 ERA in 21.2 innings pitched and is 2-0 in 12 outings this season. When the Phillies drafted Warunek, “it didn’t hit me when it initially happened.” “I allowed it to steep.” It seems a little strange.

The second Patriot graduate to be chosen in the MLB Draft is Warunek. The first was Nick Brown, a 2013 graduate who played at William & Mary and was selected by Minnesota in the 32nd round of the 2017 NBA Draft.