It wasn’t long ago that recent MLB Draft picks would be sent to Norwich to kickstart their professional careers. Now in the fifth season playing in the Futures League, a Collegiate Summer Baseball League where college players spend their summers hoping to impress scouts, the Norwich Sea Unicorns are starting to see players with ties to the organization taken in the MLB Draft. Following last summer’s first ever first round draft pick (Kaelen Culpepper, of the inaugural 2021 Sea Unicorns, to the Minnesota Twins), the Sea Unicorns had three players with ties to the organization taken in the 2025 Draft.
Cameron Maldonado, who spent part of the 2022 season in Norwich following his high school graduation, was the first player taken this year when the San Francisco Giants selected him in the 7th round with the 206th overall pick. While with Norwich, the Northeastern University outfielder won the Futures League Home Run Derby at the All Star Festivities in New Britain. In 28 games for the Sea Unicorns, Maldonado batted .286 with 3 doubles, a triple, a home run, 5 runs batted in and 11 stolen bases.
Landon Manzi, a current pitcher on the Sea Unicorns roster, who just graduated from Killingly High School, was the next player taken when the Texas Rangers used their 14th round pick at 415 overall to select the tall righthander. Manzi will now have to decide if he wants to begin his professional baseball career or follow through on his commitment to pitch at Northeastern University in the fall. So far this year, Manzi led his Killingly High school team to the State Semifinal round and with the Sea Unicorns has pitched in 4 games, 3 starts, and had a season 5 strikeouts against the Nashua Silver Knights on July 2nd.
A.J. Soldra, an outfielder on the 2024 Sea Unicorns Futures League championship team, was the final player with ties to the organization to be selected when the Los Angeles Dodgers called his name in the 16th round with the 495th overall pick. Soldra had recently committed to play for UConn starting in the fall after spending the previous 2 seasons at NJIT and Seton Hall. Soldra was the 2024 All Star Game Position Player of the Game and led the league with 8 triples (breaking the league record). He will best be remembered for scoring the championship clinching run in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 2 against the Westfield Starfires.
Maldonado, Manzi and Soldra are the third, fourth and fifth former Sea Unicorns to be drafted by MLB organizations since joining the Futures League in 2021. Aside from the aforementioned Culpepper, Colton Bender, also a member of the inaugural 2021 roster for a brief time, was drafted by the San Diego Padres that same summer. Additionally, Jayvien Sandridge, who was temporarily on the 2021 roster, signed as a free agent that summer and just recently made his MLB debut with the New York Yankees. Korey Morton, also a member of that inaugural 2021 team, signed as an undrafted free agent with the Houston Astros last summer.
Should the three players drafted this week sign contracts, that would give the Sea Unicorns seven total players with ties to the organization that have spent time with MLB organizations. With this year’s draft complete, there is also a chance other players could sign as undrafted free agents as well. This story will be updated with any new information related to those signings.