RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky University junior third baseman Jayson Langfels was drafted by the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday in the 16th round and as the 500th overall pick of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Langfels is the ninth Colonel baseball player to be drafted since 2002.

“Jayson had a great junior year that warranted him being taken in the draft,” head coach Jason Stein said. “With his array of tools and propensity to go hard on every play, his future in professional baseball is a bright one.”

A two-time first team All-OVC performer, the Lexington, Ky. native is the first EKU baseball player taken in the draft since first rounder Christian Friedrich and 22nd rounder Tyler Barnett in the summer of 2008. He is the second taken by the Rockies, as he will join former teammate Friedrich in the Colorado farm system starting this summer.

Billed in the preseason as an OVC Player of the Year candidate, Langfels lived up to the hype in 2010 by hitting .353 and leading the Colonels with 61 runs scored and a .696 slugging percentage. He also clubbed 16 home runs, 14 doubles, four triples, drove in 52 runs and swiped 12 bases.

An all-around excellent performer, Langfels ranked in the top-ten in the OVC in eight major offensive categories during the regular season, including batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.

With a triple on March 24 against Miami (Ohio), the third-baseman netted his 17th career triple, which set the OVC career mark (previously 16 by Tennessee Tech’s Bill Maclin from 1968-71). Langfels ended the season with 18 career triples.

As a sophomore, the product of Lafayette High School won the OVC batting title with a .441 average and led the country with 1.67 RBI/game en route to being named a second team All-American by the website collegebaseballinsider.com. His incendiary batting average that season was one of the best in modern EKU history and his 72 RBI ranks third on the EKU single-season list.

Langfels blasted a team-best 12 home runs that year and displayed a propensity for delivering in the clutch as two of his home runs were walk-off jobs and one of them came at home against in-state rival Western Kentucky on March 18.

As a freshman, Langfels was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. He hit .304 that season with four homers and 37 RBI while leading the team with a .511 slugging percentage. He also led the team, conference, and was second in the nation with eight triples.

Langfels was the fifth player from the OVC taken in the draft. Jacksonville State’s Todd Cunningham (2nd round/Braves), Tennessee Tech’s Stephen Pryor (5th round/Mariners), TTU’s A.J. Kirby-Jones (9th round/Athletics) and Morehead State’s Drew Lee (12th round/White Sox) were drafted before him.