Jun 10, 2015 4 min read

When Washington’s Joey Havrilak got the call Wednesday afternoon that every baseball player dreams of, he didn’t know what to do.

His parents, Tom and Cynthia, were both at work. His brother lives in Washington, D.C.

“I just kind of ran around the house,” Havrilak said. “And then my phone started blowing up. I’m celebrating by myself, but it’s still fun.”

That will happen when you get drafted by a Major League Baseball team.

Havrilak, a Trinity High School graduate who just completed his senior season at the University of Akron, was selected in the 18th round of the 40-round Major League Baseball amateur draft Wednesday by the Detroit Tigers.

He is the first player from Washington and Greene counties to be taken in the draft since Peters Township’s Justin Bianco was selected by Arizona in the third round in 2011.

Havrilak had participated in a workout for the Tigers last Friday and figured that if he was going to be selected in the draft, which began Monday, it would be Detroit that would choose him.

Now, the 6-0, 195-pound outfielder can forget about finding a job and focus on continuing his baseball career.

“I was kind of waiting until (Thursday) before the whole finding a job thing was going to start happening,” said Havrilak, who graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering. “I was going to start sending out résumés and cover letters to people. Now it will be delayed a little bit. I’ll play the kids game for a little longer.”

He assured that with not only a strong workout for Detroit scouts but a solid senior season in which he led the Zips in almost every offensive statistic.

A .258 career hitter coming in the season, Havrilak batted .347 with five home runs, 34 RBI, 47 runs scored and 17 stolen bases as Akron’s starting right fielder.

“I did have a really good year and that really helped me out,” Havrilak said. “That gave an opportunity for them to be interested in me and contacted me to have a workout with them and showcase my skills a little bit more.”

He worked so hard, both during the school year and in the summer at C-Side Academy in North Strabane Township, that Arkon head coach Rick Rembielak had no choice but to put him on scholarship last season.

“I’ll never forget him,” Rembielak said earlier this year. “I would be leaving the office and he would have the (pitching) machine out and he’d be hitting inside the field house, pulling out the machines and tees by himself. He’d come in at 6, 6:30 a.m. before class. He made himself into a very good player. His worth ethic is incredible.”

Now, Havrilak, the 2010 Observer-Reporter Baseball Player of the Year, will put that work ethic on display for the Tigers, wherever that might be.

Detroit’s rookies are usually sent to camp in Lakeland, Fla. The Tigers’ short-season Class A team is located in Connecticut and plays in the New York-Penn League. The Tigers’ low-Class A team is Grand Rapids (Mich.) in the Midwest league.

“When you’re a kid, you don’t really think about this kind of stuff,” he said. “You just think about playing in a giant ballpark in front of thousands of people. When you’re (my) age, you think about, ‘Ok, I’ve been drafted, now I’ve got to do all the other stuff.’ It’s time for the hard part to do all the hard work to get to where I want to be.”

Havrilak will join two other Washington County natives in the minor leagues. Jordan Jankowski (Peters Township) is a relief pitcher for the Fresno Grizzlies, the Houston Astros’ Class AAA affiliate. Matt Pierpont (Canon-McMillan) is a relief pitcher in the California League with the Modesto Nuts, a Class A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.