Baseball: Hayden Cantrelle Selected by the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday Night of the MLB Draft

LAFAYETTE – 2019 All-Sun Belt Conference performer Hayden Cantrelle was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 151st pick in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft on Thursday Night. 

Cantrelle is now the fifth Ragin’ Cajun to be chosen in the fifth round of the MLB Draft and the first since Corey Coles in 2003. With Cantrelle’s selection, Louisiana has now produced a draft pick in 39 of the last 40 seasons. Cantrelle is now the seventh Ragin’ Cajun to be selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the MLB Draft. 

"We are very excited and happy for Hayden," head coach Matt Deggs said. "He had an outstanding career here at Louisiana and we will certainly miss seeing No. 5 out at shortstop. He is a sure-fire professional that I would expect to play for a long time. He has a little bit of everything that you look for: he can run, he can defend, he can hit, he switch hit and he has one of the highest baseball IQ’s I have seen for a player of his age."

Cantrelle has been a staple of the Louisiana Baseball program during the last three seasons, starting in 135 consecutive games for the Ragin’ Cajuns and slashing a career .280/.405/.440.

During his time with the Ragin’ Cajuns, Cantrelle etched his named into the record books after tallying a three-home run game on March 16, 2019 against Little Rock, becoming the 10th player in program history to do so, and hitting for the cycle on March 19, 2019 against Northwestern State, making him the fourth player in program history to accomplish that feat. 

"As good as player as he is on the field, he is an even better young man off of it," Deggs described. "Hayden is a tremendous student and always eager to help and serve. He was on our SAAC committee and one of our team leaders. Hayden represented the Cajuns in a first-class manner and I know he will make Cajun Nation even more proud in the future."