ECU ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

GREENVILLE – East Carolina junior Jeff Hoffman was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays with the ninth overall pick in the 2014 Major League Baseball First Year Amateur Draft Thursday night, which was televised live on the MLB Network.

With his first round selection, Hoffman becomes the highest draft pick in school history besting ECU Hall-of-Famer Theodore “Blue” Edwards, who was the 21st-overall selection by the Utah Jazz in the 1989 National Basketball Association Draft.

Hoffman, a preseason top-5 prospect by Baseball America, MLB.com and Perfect Game, extends East Carolina’s streak of having at least one player taken in the last 18 MLB Draft’s dating back to 1997. The right-hander from Latham, N.Y. is the third-highest baseball selection in Conference USA history trailing only Houston’s Brad Lincoln (2006/Pittsburgh Pirates) and Rice’s Anthony Rendon (2011/Washington National).

A pair of Pirates, ECU Hall-of-Famer Robert Jones (1992/Dallas Cowboys) and Chris Johnson (2008/Tennessee Titans), were taken 24th overall in the National Football League Draft, while ECU Hall-of-Famer Pat Watkins (1993) was the 32nd overall selection in the first round by the Cincinnati Reds.

The three-day event will conclude on Saturday, June 7 with rounds 11-40 starting at 1 p.m. (ET).