Big Day for Diamond Dogs

The Diamond Dogs had two players -- first baseman Rich Poythress and pitcher Trevor Holder -- taken on Day 1 of the MLB draft yesterday. They were available to the media today, and here's some of what they had to say...

Trevor Holder, who was selected in the third round by the Washington Nationals

On his thoughts on being drafted...
"Obviously I'm extremely excited and I'm really happy for Rich. It's just a tremendous honor. I've loved the four years I've been at Georgia. It's meant the world to me, and I couldn't have gotten here without the help of everybody at Georgia. It's been a fun ride, and I'm excited about the next step."

On how he found out he had been drafted...
"I was actually sitting around watching the Lakers game and all of a sudden I got a call from my mom and she was crying. I honestly thought she was calling to tell me about Rich getting drafted, and I was like 'Mom, Rich got picked a while ago. What are you crying about?' And then my phone just started ringing off the hook and I got steady text messages. I was really planning on going today when they do the later rounds. I honestly had no idea. I couldn't stop smiling the whole day."

On what he thinks allowed him to move up from a 10th-round pick last year to the third round this season...
"A couple different things. Not getting injured toward the end of the year and staying strong through the end of the year really helped. I got that start at the end of the year in the SEC tournament when a bunch of scouts were there. I think being a senior really helped, too, just because of who they picked in the first round, they're going to be spending a lot of money, and I'm sure they didn't want to pick someone else who's going to hold out, who's younger and has more leverage to hold out and get more money. That's not the case with me. I want to go play, and I'm extremely happy about this opportunity."

Rich Poythress, who was selected in the second round by the Seattle Mariners...

On his thoughts on being drafted...
"I got to wake up this morning and have the opportunity of a lifetime, so I'm ecstatic. I couldn't be happier for Trevor. He's one of the best teammates I've ever played with. The opportunity that both of us are going to get is awesome. It's still a little bit of a surreal feeling and it probably hasn't sunk in all the way, but hopefully both of us can get all the other stuff worked out and we can go play ball, which is what we're best at."

On where he was for the draft...
"Me and my family actually drove up to Joey Lewis' lake house. We kind of wanted to get away and we wanted to be able to watch it on TV. In Grovetown, it's kind of sad, you can't get MLB network. So I guess they'll work on that. But I just hung around with family and friends, and as fun as it was, I'm kind of glad it's over and to see what happened."

On whether he has spoken with Josh Fields, the former Georgia closer who is also in the Seattle organization...
"I got to talk to Fields last night. He gave me a call sometime around midnight and spoke to him for a few minutes. We didn't really get too much into it. I've been in touch with Seattle for the last few weeks and going into yesterday, that's the team I wanted to go to. It's a great organization. They're very goal-oriented on winning. It's a great opportunity to move up through a system if you play well and perform, so I couldn't be more excited."

On whether he knew that Seattle would take him...
"I knew. I was telling Trevor before, it was an interesting 10-15 minutes for me. I turned down a good opportunity with Boston just because of how I felt about the Seattle organization. The way they felt about me, I had some talks over the phone there for about 10 or 15 minutes, and it was a little bit of a circus, but it was a great opportunity for me."

On whether he has a deal in place yet, given that he told Boston he was not interested in playing there...
"We have no deal agreed upon, but I knew they were going to take me when they picked again, and I think I made it clear to everybody else that it was going to have to be as good a deal as Seattle was going to give me."

On whether there's any chance he would return to school...
"I feel like I'm ready to go play pro ball and I feel like this is my best opportunity to go start my career. If things don't work out, I'm not opposed to it. It's been the greatest three years of my life -- baseball-wise and everything. It's something I'll cherish for the rest of my life, so if things don't work out, it's something I'm not opposed to."

Poythress, Holder Drafted

From UGA Athletics...

Georgia junior first baseman Rich Poythress was selected in the second round by the Seattle Mariners with the 51st overall pick in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Tuesday. He was the second pick in the second round.

The Grovetown, Ga., native becomes the fourth Bulldog to be drafted in the first two rounds in the last four years. Gordon Beckham and Josh Fields were both taken in the first round last year, and Brooks Brown was selected in the first round in 2006. Fields was also drafted by the Mariners.

Poythress led the Bulldogs with a .376 average, 25 home runs and 86 RBI this season and was named a Louisville Slugger All-American and first team All-SEC. Poythress set the single season school RBI record this season and is second on Georgia's career RBI list. He had four multi-home run games in 2009 including two three home run games, the second player in Georgia history to accomplish that feat.

----

Georgia senior pitcher Trevor Holder was drafted in the third round by the Washington Nationals with the 81st overall pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Tuesday. He was the first pick in the third round.

Holder was the second Bulldog to be drafted as Rich Poythress was taken in the second round by the Seattle Mariners.

A native of Birmingham, Ala., Holder posted a 7-5 record with a 4.48 ERA in 2009 and finished his career tied with Cris Carpenter for fourth all-time at Georgia with 22 career wins. Holder, who was drafted in the 10th round by the Florida Marlins last season, was 8-4 for the 2008 SEC Championship team that finished with a No. 2 national ranking. He was a second team All-SEC pick in 2008 and was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team in 2009.

Georgia has had five players drafted in the first three rounds over the last four years including Trevor Holder (Nationals) and Rich Poythress (Mariners) in 2009, first rounders Gordon Beckham (White Sox) and Josh Fields (Mariners) in 2008 and first rounder Brooks Brown (Diamondbacks) in 2006.

Video Blog: Holder on SEC Tourney

Georgia ace Trevor Holder talks about rebounding from a couple rough outings in time to make his first start in the SEC tournament today.

Video Blog: Trevor Holder

Georgia starting pitcher Trevor Holder talks about his team's -- and his own -- recent struggles, while getting a good bit of ribbing from his teammates.