Homegrown: Boston Red Sox select Hanover native in MLB Draft

The Boston Red Sox selected six consecutive pitchers in the later stages of this year's MLB Draft.

At a quick glance of their baseball cards -- they hail from Florida, California, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Oregon and... down the street?

With their 13th-round pick on Tuesday, the Red Sox drafted BC High product and Hanover native Shea Sprague at 387th overall.

Sprague, a junior left-hander at the University of North Carolina, made 17 appearances and 15 starts for the Tar Heels. He finished the season on the All-ACC Second Team All-ACC with a 3-2 record and 4.25 ERA.

He transferred to UNC last summer after two standout underclassmen seasons at Elon University in which he had a 2.36 ERA in 152⅓ innings pitched between 2022-23.

Sprague was a Patriot Ledger All-Scholastic as a senior at BC High in 2021. He maintained a 1.13 ERA over 37 innings in his final season, earning a 4-0 pitching record and 62 strikeouts for the Eagles under coach Norm Walsh.

Sprague, who stands 6-foot-3, played for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League at this time last year when he announced his transfer to UNC and discussed his future with Patriot Ledger reporter Kevin Perrington-Turner.

“(I'm) definitely taking it one step on the way, but playing professionally is definitely a dream of mine,” Sprague said last summer. "And hopefully it comes true someday.”