The Oakland Athletics selected southpaw Cody Puckett in the 30th round with the 861st pick of the 2017 MLB Draft Wednesday afternoon.

Puckett, a 2013 graduate of DCHS, has spent the last two years pitching for the Blue Raiders at Middle Tennessee State University. He pitched three winning games for the MTSU this year, finishing with the lowest ERA on the squad, 4.57.

He led the team in strikeouts in 2017 as well, sending 101 batters back to the dugout in 58.23 innings on the mound. Puckett also ranked 44th in the country in Strikeouts per nine innings with 10.89. 

Puckett was the District 8-AA Pitcher of the Year as a junior at DeKalb County, where he led the Tigers to two Class AA state tournament appearances. He played two seasons for Columbia State Community College before going to MTSU, posting a 9-4 record and registering more than 125 strikeouts in two seasons. Puckett was a member of the weekend rotation during both of his seasons at Columbia State, and helped lead the team to the JUCO World Series in 2014, when he posted a 5-0 record.

"I'm extremely happy for the opportunity that Cody has," said Head Coach Jim McGuire.  "Oakland has followed him over the past year, and he's pitched really well when their scouts were at our games."

Puckett is the second Blue Raider to be taken in the draft, after shortstop Riley Delgado (also a teammate of Puckett's at Columbia State CC) was picked by the Atlanta Braves in the ninth round yesterday afternoon.

"I'm very proud of how far Cody has come in his career, he's worked really hard to get to this point," concluded McGuire.