Former Dowling Catholic player Blake Larson selected by Chicago White Sox in MLB Draft

When Blake Larson packed his bags and moved from Des Moines to Florida to attend the prestigious IMG Academy, the hope was that he could improve his stock for the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft.

It paid off Sunday.

Larson, a left-handed pitcher, was taken with the 68 ^th overall pick by the Chicago White Sox in Competitive Balance Round B of the MLB Draft Sunday.

The White Sox acquired the pick from the Seattle Mariners in a trade for Gregory Santos.

“I’m pumped,” Larson said in a telephone interview with the Register on Sunday night. “There’s no better feeling. It’s been a dream of mine since Day 1. Going to IMG, it was always in my head that this was the plan and now it’s actually happening.”

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Larson no longer lives in Iowa but he’s certainly well known around the state. He played in the 2018 Little League World Series in 2018 for Grandview and spent his first two seasons of high school baseball playing for Dowling Catholic.

Larson last played at Dowling Catholic as a sophomore, going 1-0 with a 1.20 ERA and 27 strikeouts across just 11 2/3 innings of work. He missed his junior season because of an injury.

Larson moved to Florida to play at IMG Academy, a boarding school that boasts some of the top talent in high school sports.

“Being in Iowa, we play in the summer and it’s hard for scouts to kind of get there,” Larson said.

Not in Florida, where the southpaw showed off a mid-90s fastball that attracted the attention of scouts and evaluators. Larson, who planned to play at Texas Christian, was listed by MLB.com as the 104 ^th -best prospect in the draft.

“I think (attending IMG) helped and was one of the bigger reasons why I got my name called today,” Larson said.

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Larson was at TCU training with fellow freshmen in his class and preparing for school. But now that he’s been drafted, he said he plans to sign.

The assigned slot value of the pick is $1,197,200. Larson said his agent was still negotiating with the team.

“I know I’m getting at least $1.4 (million),” he said.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Former Dowling Catholic player Blake Larson selected by Chicago White Sox in MLB Draft