Former La Jolla High player picked No. 5 in MLB Draft

By Phil Dailey

It was only a few years ago when Kyle Zimmer played his high school baseball in La Jolla. On Monday night, the former Viking standout, and current right-handed pitcher at the University of San Francisco, was selected No. 5 in the Major League Baseball Draft by the Kansas City Royals.

The announcement aired live on the MLB Network and showed a live celebration of the Zimmer’s house in La Jolla.

Kyle, a 2009 graduate of LJHS, plays at USF with his younger brother Bradley, a 2011 graduate of LJHS.

The two come from an athletic family as their father, Eric, who is an anesthesiologist, was a baseball player at UC San Diego and their mother, Cathy, who is a counselor at La Jolla High, ran track at San Diego State.

Kyle Zimmer was 5-3 this season for USF, but was hampered by a hamstring injury late in the season. He led the West Coast Conference in strikeouts despite the injury.

Zimmer was expected to go in the first round, but some experts thought he may slip a bit because of the injury.

“I feel fine, everything feels great.” said Zimmer, shortly after getting picked by the Royals. “Everything feels great now and I’m ready to go out there and make some pitches.”

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Click to view the celebration of Zimmer and his parents in La Jolla

Country Day’s Ayala also drafted

La Jolla Country Day’s Sam Ayala was also drafted this week. Ayala, a senior at Country Day, was selected in the 17th round by the Chicago White Sox. However, Ayala is electing to not turn pro and is headed to UC Santa Barbara where he will continue his baseball there.

The Chicago White Sox offered him $200,000 to sign and also were going to pay for his college education if baseball did not work out.

According to the LJCD website, Ayala said the money was not worth replacing his college experience.