LYNN, Mass. — Three players who have donned a North Shore Navigators uniform heard their names called over the final two days of the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft, which ran from Sunday night through Tuesday afternoon.

The first two drafted Navs — right-handed pitchers Jay Driver (Harvard) and Austin Amaral (Stetson) — were members of the Northern Division championship-winning team from the organization’s first season back in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) in 2021.

Driver was the ninth-round (No. 278 overall) selection of the Cleveland Guardians, an organization that had not taken a Navigator since 2009. Chosen by the Washington Nationals, Amaral was the No. 465 overall pick in the 16th round.

Current North Shore catcher Jackson Hornung (Kansas State) rounded out the trio of selections, becoming the first Navigator drafted during his summer with the team since 2019 when former North Andover standout Sebastian Keane was chosen by the Boston Red Sox before opting to honor his commitment to Northeastern University. 

Hornung followed Amaral as a 16th-round pick, going to the Toronto Blue Jays at No. 484 overall. He is the first-ever North Shore player or alum to be drafted or signed by the Canadian club.

A Wellesley native, Driver spent his first collegiate summer with the Navs before pitching two seasons at Harvard, earning All-Ivy League and All-New England honors following his 2022 debut spring. He struck out 17 batters in his 20.2 innings of work across 11 games (two starts) for North Shore in 2021.

Amaral had an outstanding 2021 season with the Navs, making eight appearances (seven starts) as a member of the regular starting rotation. The righty went 2-3 with a 2.97 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 36.1 innings that summer. He allowed one or fewer earned runs in five of his starts. Amaral also pitched twice during North Shore’s playoff run, working six innings in Wild Card and Northern Division title-clinching victories. 

Hornung, who joined the Navs following a stint with the Cape Cod League’s Harwich Mariners, recorded two doubles, two home runs, six RBI and seven runs scored in 13 games this summer. The Ashland native was a two-time Division 3 All-American at Skidmore College who had been slated to spend his graduate season at Kansas State in 2024.

After pitching for North Shore in 2021, Driver and Amaral reunited as teammates on the Cape last summer with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks.

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