User:Fourblairs/sandbox

Aaron Blair (born May 26, 1992) is an american baseball player. Blair attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, where he played baseball for the Marshall Thundering Herd baseball team. Prior to that, he attended Spring Valley High school in Las Vegas, Nevada and played for the school's baseball team. The Houston Astros selected him in the 21st round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft but decided to go to college instead. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Blair with the 36th pick of the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft.

Early Life

Blair was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada by his mom, Janice and his dad, Craig. When Blair was 4 years old, he started playing Little League baseball on the same t-ball team as his big brother.

Career

Blair attended Spring Valley High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. He threw a no-hitter his sophomore year, was 7-0 his junior year and became a 1st Team All-State player his senior year while leading all Nevada 4A pitchers with 91 strikeouts in 64 innings. He had 9 complete games out of 10 starts.

Though not highly recruited coming out of high school, Blair caught the eye of Marshall University while playing for the Ohio Warhawks in the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Florida during the fall of his senior year. Blair agreed to attend Marshall on a scholarship, where he would play college baseball for the Marshall Thundering Herd. As a freshman, Blair led the team in ERA with a 2.72 while being name to the Conference USA All-Freshmen team. His sophomore year Blair led the Thundering Herd pitching staff in starts(14)innings pitched(83 2/3) and strikeouts (82). During the summer between his sophomore and junior year, Blair was invited to play in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. This is where his draft stock really began to rise. He was named Pitcher of the Week for the 1st AND 2nd weeks of the season as he went on to lead the Cape Cod Baseball League[[ in ERA with a 1.17 while going 6-0 and then adding two wins in the [[Cape Cod Baseball League playoffs. In a do-or-die game in the championship series, Blair went 7 innings while allowing only 2 hits and striking out 10 to force a final game.

As a junior, Blair was added to the Golden Spikes Award watch list. Blair was named a 1st Team Conference USA pitcher. Included in his season was an 8 inning, 2 hit, 11 strikeout and no run game against the 19th ranked Houston Cougars in a 4-0 win. Blair then became the highest drafted player in Marshall University baseball history when the Arizona Diamondbacks selected him in the 1st round with the 36th pick.

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Blair with the 36th pick in the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft. Blair signed with the Diamondbacks for a $1.435 million signing bonus and was assigned to the Hillsboro Hops of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League. He was promoted in August to the South Bend Silver Hawks of the Midwest League, where he won 2 playoff games.

References

1. ^Blair Named to Golden Spikes Award Watch List