Liam Peterson and Hunter Dietz named their number coming out of Calvary Christian. No team met it, and neither was drafted.
Three years later, both went in the first round.
The Cleveland Guardians took Peterson, a right-hander at Florida, with the 19th overall pick July 11. Sixteen picks later, the New York Yankees took Dietz, a left-hander at Arkansas, at No. 35, which was New York’s first rounder after a luxury-tax penalty pushed it back 10 spots.
Dietz signed July 13 for $2,497,500. The slot value on Peterson’s pick is $4,530,500. Neither had been offered anything close in 2023.
“Rounds didn’t matter to me,” Peterson said back then. “Just didn’t get the money I asked for.”
Dietz was more specific about what set his price.
“I set my number high just because how much I like Arkansas,” he said.
The two were part of a Calvary rotation that scouts still bring up. Peterson, Dietz and Landen Maroudis pitched the Warriors to the Class 3A state title in 2023, a season in which coach Greg Olsen’s team was ranked as high as fourth in the country.
Maroudis went in the fourth round to Toronto that July and signed for $1.5 million — nearly triple the slot value — while walking away from an N.C. State commitment. He is still working his way back from elbow surgery in the Blue Jays system and is now at Class High-A Vancouver.
Peterson and Dietz took the other road. It looked shaky for a while.
Peterson never lost his spot in the Gators’ weekend rotation, but he never quite pitched like the arm everyone kept saying he was. He leaves Gainesville with a 5.03 ERA over 216 2/3 innings and a career walk rate that scouts have circled since high school.
He gave up nine earned runs in his last college start, a regional loss to Troy in Gainesville. What kept him in the top 20 was the makeup: a 6-foot-5, 225-pounder with a fastball that averages 96 and touches 99, and a mid-80s slider that graded as one of the best in the class.
“We’ve known him for a really long time from his days at Calvary Christian, where he was a top prospect as well,” Guardians senior vice president of scouting Paul Gillispie told MLB.com. “The things that he already does and the things that he brings to the table are really hard to teach.”
Peterson knows the numbers don’t back him up yet. In a June interview with Dan O’Dowd on MLB Network, he said he is not happy with how he has pitched — then said he thinks he can win a Cy Young Award anyway.
Dietz’s three years were quieter and more painful. He had surgery in the fall of 2023 to repair a fracture in his left ulna, then a setback that cost him 13 months. He threw 1 2/3 innings total in two seasons and stayed put.
“I don’t think I would have as much trust in any other coaching staff,” Dietz told WholeHogSports before the draft, “and I don’t think I would have stayed as loyal as I have to any other coaching staff.”
Then he pitched. The 6-foot-6 lefty went 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings this spring, made four All-America teams and struck out 14 in his final start, an NCAA regional at Kansas. He was the first SEC pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts this season. MLB Pipeline had him 17th in the draft class. Cole Hamels, working the draft for MLB Network, compared his slider to Clayton Kershaw’s.
Dietz watched the draft from his family’s home in Clearwater.
He goes to the Yankees’ complex in Tampa next. Peterson, from Palm Harbor, has until 5 p.m. July 27 to sign.
Quick hits
Three more Pinellas names off the board
Peterson and Dietz weren’t the only local products drafted.
Andrew Williamson, OF, Northside Christian
The St. Louis Cardinals took Williamson 68th overall in the second round, the first Pinellas player picked after the two Calvary arms. He spent three years in the outfield at Central Florida and had his best one last: .322 with 16 home runs, 48 RBIs and a .442 on-base percentage in 55 starts, all but one in right field. He is eighth on the UCF career home run list with 34 and made second-team All-Big 12. Scouts like the bat speed, the wood-bat track record and an arm that fits anywhere in the outfield. The St. Petersburg native comes by it honestly: his uncle, Sean Rodriguez, spent 15 seasons in the majors, including four with the Rays.
Trey Beard, LHP, Dunedin
Beard went to the Miami Marlins in the fifth round, 147th overall — a Dunedin kid who never left the state. He pitched two years at Florida Atlantic, transferred to Florida State and became the Seminoles’ Saturday starter, going 6-1 with a 4.50 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 68 innings. He was 18th in the country in strikeouts per nine and made third-team All-ACC. The fastball is ordinary — 90-91, topping out at 94, from a very high slot. The changeup is not. It sits in the mid-70s, and MLB Pipeline’s report noted it draws “Bugs Bunny” comparisons from scouts. Beard struck out 111 with a 0.32 ERA as a Dunedin High senior.
Cooper Consiglio, LHP, East Lake
The Philadelphia Phillies took Consiglio in the ninth round, 279th overall. His junior line at N.C. State looks ugly — 3-5, 6.90 ERA — and it’s mostly four bad afternoons. Against ACC hitters he was the best arm on the staff, with a 3.38 ERA and a .178 average against over eight appearances, and he beat South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament on June 1. Consiglio, from Palm Harbor, arrived in Raleigh at 17 and pitched his way onto a College World Series team as a freshman. He finished high school at IMG Academy after East Lake.