Khadim Diaw, who played for the Peninsula Oilers in 2023, was drafted this week by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft with the 96th overall pick.
According to mlb.com, Diaw is the first player of Senegalese descent to be selected in the draft.
Diaw, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound catcher, did not get to play a full season with the Oilers. He played 12 games and had a .368 average with two doubles, a triple, seven RBIs and six stolen bases.
Drake Frize, a pitcher for the Oilers in 2022, was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 17th round with the 524th overall pick.
Frize was lights out as a closer for the Oilers in 2022, appearing in eight games and getting four saves. He pitched 10 innings and gave up just one hit while striking out nine and walking three.
Garrett Pennington, who played for the Oilers in 2021, went undrafted but signed a free agent deal with the Detroit Tigers.
Pennington made the first team on the all-Alaska Baseball League team for the Oilers in 2021. The infielder played 31 games for the Oilers, hitting .336 with 10 doubles, a triple and six home runs.
Also of note in Alaska, recent Service High School graduate Coen Niclai, a 6-foot-2, 213-pound catcher, was drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round with the 454th overall pick. Niclai is a two-time winner of the Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year.
