Centralia High School senior Andrew Pullin has been selected by the Philadelphia Phillies as the final pick in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball draft.
"I'm really excited to be playing with the best now and working my way up," said Pullin. "It's going to be hard playing all the time, but it's what I want to do and I'll just have fun doing it."
Pullin, an outfielder, has been selected to the Evergreen 2A Conference All-League team four times. He hit .300 this season and .409 for his career with the Tigers, with 17 career homers in 335 plate appearances. While the Phillies were interested in Pullin for his bat, he was also a standout pitcher at Centralia, pitching mostly with his right hand but occasionally throwing lefthanded. In his sophomore season, notably, he pitched with both hands in an upset win over rival W.F. West.
"This is pretty cool, I guess it's a dream come true," said Pullin, who was in a marine biology class when he got the call from a Phillies scout explaining that he had just been drafted. "It's always what I've wanted to do."
He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play with the University of Oregon next season, but he explained that playing professional baseball has been a dream of his for a long time he will forego college to enter the Phillies' farm system.
"I didn't really have any expectations," said Pullin of being drafted. "If I did get drafted great, but if I didn't I would go to college."
Pullin, who is listed at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, is the second Lewis County athlete chosen by the Phillies this draft.
Philadelphia selected W.F. West pitcher Mitch Gueller with the 54th pick in the second round.
"It's going to be great," said Pullin of playing with Gueller. "We've played together since we were 11 or 12 years old in the summer and it'll be a lot of fun — it's good knowing somebody."
Check chronline.com or Thursday’s edition of The Chronicle for details.
