University of Florida junior right-hander Jonathon
Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla.) was chosen in the first round of the 2013 Major
League Baseball Draft on Thursday night by the Detroit Tigers with the 20th
choice. His selection marks the second-straight year that a member of head
coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s Gator squad has been taken in the opening round
after catcher Mike Zunino went third overall to the Seattle Mariners and
left-hander Brian Johnson was picked 31st by the Boston Red Sox last
June. Crawford became the highest selection for a Florida pitcher since John
Burke was chosen by the Houston Astros at No. 6 overall in 1991.
Over a team-high 15 starts and 86.2 innings
this year, Crawford led the Orange and Blue with 69 strikeouts and was 3-6 with
a 3.84 ERA. During the Gators’ opening-round contest of the NCAA Bloomington
Regional, he limited second-seeded Austin Peay to one run and four hits over
6.1 innings and registered five strikeouts. He was in line for the victory
before the Govs overcame a 3-1 deficit for a 4-3 triumph and was later chosen
to the Regional’s All-Tournament Team.
Crawford was chosen as the Southeastern
Conference Pitcher of the Week on April 1 for the first time in his career
after twirling a two-hit shutout against No. 11 Ole Miss. After the Rebels
claimed the opener, 4-3 in 11 innings, he evened the series on Saturday with
his best outing of the season. The righty allowed only singles in the fourth
and sixth innings, set a season high with eight strikeouts and issued a pair of
walks. Ole Miss hitters went 2-for-29 (.069) against Crawford, who went the
distance for his second career complete-game and second solo shutout – first
since a 4-0 no-hitter against Bethune-Cookman on June 1, 2012 during the NCAA
Gainesville Regional.
Crawford also earned USA
Baseball’s International Performance of the Year Award for his efforts last
summer. As Team USA's starter in game one
of the inaugural USA versus Cuba Series in Havana, Cuba, his outing
set the tone for the 2012 Collegiate National Team season. The Okeechobee native went 6.1 innings, struck
out six Cuban batters and picked up the win in the club's 4-3 victory
at Estadio de Latinoamericana. On the summer, Crawford led the team with
26.2 innings pitched. Along the way, he picked up two more wins for Team USA to
finish the summer with a 3-0 record and a 2.02 earned run average.
After pitching just 3.2 innings
as a freshman, Crawford made 19 appearances and 14 starts as a sophomore in
2012 as Florida made its third NCAA College World Series appearance in a row.
The righty had a 6-2 mark with a 3.13 ERA and tied for second on the squad with
73 strikeouts in 77.2 innings. He started in nine of the Gators’ 10 SEC series
and was 3-1 with a 2.56 ERA in 38.2 innings during league action.
Crawford appeared in three NCAA
Tournament contests, including starts against No. 11 NC State in the
Gainesville Super Regional and Bethune-Cookman in the Gainesville Regional, and
came out of the bullpen for three innings versus No. 9 Kent State at the CWS.
He registered a 2.30 ERA and was 1-0 with 13 strikeouts and two walks in a
team-high 15.2 innings in NCAA play.
In Florida’s NCAA opener against
B-CU, Crawford became
the first Gator hurler to register a complete-game no-hitter since Burke accomplished
the feat in a 2-0 shutout of Furman on May 23, 1991. Crawford, whose previous
career-high stint had been six innings against LSU on April 6, went the distance
on 98 pitches (70 of them strikes) and faced the minimum of 27 batters en route
to the 4-0 shutout of the Wildcats. The righty retired the final 19 batters of
the outing and became just the seventh pitcher to
throw a no-hitter in the NCAA Championship, the first since Burke. Crawford defeated
Auburn in UF’s SEC Tournament opener in Hoover, establishing a career high with
nine strikeouts over 5.2 innings, and claimed the series opener at Tennessee on
April 13. He fired six scoreless frames to help the Gators even the series with
seventh-ranked LSU and also collected victories over Vanderbilt (5.0 IP, 3 H, 0
R, 6 K) and No. 19 UCF (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 K). He held the Knights hitless for
4.1 innings in his collegiate starting debut.
