OMAHA, Neb. – The San Diego State baseball program had its second player selected in the 2020 MLB Draft on Thursday when shortstop Anthony Walters was taken by the New York Mets in the third round with the 91st pick overall.
Along with third baseman/relief pitcher Casey Schmitt, who was snapped up earlier in the day by the San Francisco Giants in the second round with the 49th pick, Walters and his infield companion give the Aztecs 21 draft picks over the last six years and 218 overall since 1965.
In addition, Schmitt and Walters' selections mark the first time San Diego State has had two players chosen in the first 100 picks of the MLB Draft since Royce Ring (Chicago-AL, No. 18) and Taber Lee (Pittsburgh, No. 73) in 2002. Not to be outdone, the Aztecs have also had multiple players drafted in each of the last four years and seven of the last eight overall.
A transfer from Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, California, Walters started all 16 games during an abbreviated 2020 campaign for the Scarlet and Black, hitting .271 (16-59) with one homer, eight RBIs and eight runs scored. At the shortstop position, he led the Aztecs with 35 assists and fielded a team-best eight double players.
Additionally, Walters tied for fourth on the squad with multiple hits in five games, including a season-high three at No. 11/15 Oklahoma on March 8, which proved to be SDSU's final game of the season. In that contest vs. the Sooners, the redshirt junior smacked his lone double of the year and scored a season-high three runs in a narrow 9-8 defeat in 10 innings.
Earlier in the home opener against No. 24 Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 18, Walters belted a two-run homer to lift SDSU to an 8-4 victory, as the Aztecs defeated the Titans for the seventh time in the last nine meetings between the two squads.
After graduating from Tustin (Calif.) High School, Walters played one season at California in 2017, when he started 19 of 34 games, seeing action at shortstop, second base, left field and third base.
Walters subsequently enrolled at Mt. SAC for the 2018 season, earning first-team all-state honors from the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association (CCCBCA) after batting .374 in 45 games with 10 home runs and 62 RBIs. He also landed a spot on the ABCA/Rawlings Pacific Association all-region second team and was an all-South Coast Conference first-team selection after racking up 20 doubles and 52 runs scored, helping the Mounties reach the CCCAA State Championship.
After it was pegged for a first-place finish in the Mountain West preseason poll, San Diego State compiled a 10-6 record in its first 16 games of the shortened 2020 campaign. The Aztecs knocked off a trio of ranked teams in No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 17 Long Beach State and No. 24 Cal State Fullerton to go with victories over recent national champions Coastal Carolina (2016) and Oregon State (2018, twice).