Mason Ligenza took another step toward realizing his childhood dream on July 14.<\/p>\n
The World Series champion-Los Angeles Dodgers made the generational Tamaqua baseball star the overall 195th pick in the 2025 Major League Draft after selecting him in the sixth round, something he had prepared for since first donning a baseball uniform.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis past summer\/fall I went to events with a lot of eyes watching and those experiences were some of the most fun I have had in my life,\u201d Ligenza said. \u201cI would be lying to say if I was not nervous seeing scouts show up to high school games to watch me play because I definitely am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ligenza put up freakish numbers at the plate and on the mound throughout his high school career, entering the draft as the 217th best prospect according to MLB.com.<\/p>\n
In his senior year alone, the 6-foot-6, 205-pound University of Pittsburgh recruit batted a team-best .448 (26-for-58) out of the Blue Raiders\u2019 leadoff spot with teams highs in walks (29), on-base percentage (.644), home runs (11), runs (44) and stolen bases (27).<\/p>\n
As a southpaw pitcher, Ligenza finished 7-1 with a sparkling earned run average of 0.25 and struck out 100 batters and walked only 14 over 55 1\/3 innings. He gave up a total of nine runs \u2013 only two earned \u2013 all season as the Raiders wound up 21-2 and successfully defended their Schuylkill League championship.<\/p>\n
His highlight on the mound came when he pitched a perfect game against Panther Valley in his final regular-season start.<\/p>\n
Ligenza ultimately decided to continue his baseball career at Pitt rather than begin his professional career \u2014 at least for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is important to live in the moment and stay focused on what is happening now, which is getting better every day with my team, and focusing on winning every game we play,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I stay present and focused on the now, everything will end up the way it was meant to be in the future. However, I think it is impossible to not think about the \u201cwhat ifs\u201d down the line and having open conversations with my parents, my advisor, and those close to me, while also praying about it is important too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nationals pick Molinaro<\/p>\n
For Bryce Molinaro, a wait years in the making came to a happy ending.<\/p>\n
The Washington Nationals made the former Hazleton Area two-sport standout and All-Big Ten baseball player at Penn State the 501st overall pick in the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft.<\/p>\n
The same National League East Division team which took shortstop Eli Willits, a Fort Cobb-Broxton, Okla. prep phenom, No. 1 overall one day earlier, chose Molinaro in the 17th round.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sitting around all day waiting for the call,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce I got it, my emotions all kind of hit me at once. .. Definitely a dream come true. Showed that all my hard work over the years has paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n
The heavy-hitting third baseman thrust himself into palpable conversation as a highly-touted prospect for the draft with his gap-to-gap power and smooth right-handed swing, showcasing both from a young age.<\/p>\n
The Drums product entered the season ranked as the 143rd overall college prospect by D1Baseball.com and sat 380th in the Baseball America top-400. Despite the external accolades, Molinaro said his conversations with second-year Nittany Lions head coach Mike Gambino relaxed the inherent pressure that coincides with being an elite prospect.<\/p>\n
In May, Molinaro said the idea of being drafted didn\u2019t creep into his mind and recognized that he didn\u2019t let the looming draft alter how he played.<\/p>\n
However, he knew that one phone call could change his life forever and said it\u2019s been an incredible journey from the mat to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park where he\u2019s built a legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would mean the world,\u201d Molinaro said of the possibility of being drafted before it actually happened. \u201cIt\u2019s the thing I\u2019ve been doing since I was a kid and it\u2019s been what I\u2019ve been working for. It\u2019s always been a dream of mine and that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to work for. Hearing my name get called in a few months would definitely be a huge stepping stone, a huge thing to cross off the bucket list. It\u2019d be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, like Ligenza, Molinaro put his dream of playing professional baseball on hold.<\/p>\n
The former Hazleton Area standout announced on social media a few days after the draft that he would be returning to Penn State for the 2026 season rather than signing with the Nationals.<\/p>\n
In the post, Molinaro said his decision came after discussion with his family and coaches. He also thanked Nittany Nation for their support throughout this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m coming back determined to dominate on the field and to keep developing under coach Gambino and his tremendous staff,\u201d Molinaro wrote. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to be back with my teammates at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mason Ligenza took another step toward realizing his childhood dream on July 14. The World Series champion-Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2276],"tags":[5,3263,2291,4,1586,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-501673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-draft","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-high-school-sports","10":"tag-major-league-baseball-draft","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-mlb-draft","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115820727256752909","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}