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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ARLINGTON, Tex. – One of Chelsea’s own will get a shot to make it to the bright lights of Major League Baseball.

Former Chelsea Hornets star Carter Frederick was selected by the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, July 16 in the 20th round with the 587th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Frederick recently finished his redshirt junior year at Oklahoma, where the 6-foot-4, 227-pound outfielder had eight starts in 13 appearances, batting .343 with 12 hits, nine RBI and two home runs.

The Sooners were Frederick’s third college team after he redshirted his freshman year at Auburn in 2021 before transferring to Snead State for two seasons. As a sophomore in 2023, he batted .463 with 14 home runs and a .572 on-base percentage in 53 appearances.

Prior to his college career though, Frederick was one of Chelsea’s top baseball talents during a successful stretch for the program.

During his junior season in 2019, Frederick earned Shelby County Offensive Player of the Year honors, a Class 6A All-State Honorable Mention and a North-South All-Star Game selection by batting .407 with county highs in hits with 46 and RBI with 38.

He also played a key role in Chelsea’s run to the Class 6A state championship game that year, earning a hit in nine of the Hornets’ 10 postseason games. Of those nine, he had multi-hit games in four of them. Frederick also racked up 15 RBI, including 10 in their series against No. 1 Russell County.

Frederick was also a two-time All-County player while hitting .346 during his career in a Hornets uniform. Perfect Game ranked him as the No. 13 player in Alabama and in the top 350 players in the nation.

As a draft selection, Frederick will have the option to either play his senior season at Oklahoma as it moves to the SEC or sign a contract and join the Royals organization to continue his quest to playing in Major League Baseball.

Frederick was the third player who played for a Shelby County high school or college to be selected in the 2024 draft.

The University of Montevallo’s Logan Samuels was drafted in the eighth round on Monday, July 15 by the Atlanta Braves and Thompson’s D’Marion Terrell heard his name called just before Frederick in the 19th round by the Toronto Blue Jays.