Conway – University of Central Arkansas pitcher Noah Cameron was taken in the seventh round by the Kansas City Royals in Monday’s Major League Baseball Draft.
Cameron, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound left hander from St. Joseph, Mo., is UCA’s 13th MLB draftee since 2011 and the fifth selected by Kansas City in the past four years. He is UCA’s fifth-highest selection (199th overall) in history and follows just a year after right hander Gavin Stone was drafted in the fifth round (159th) by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Cameron, who played at Central High School in St. Joseph, located an hour from Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium, missed the 2021 season after undergoing arm surgery following the abbreviated 2020 season. He finished his freshman season in 2019 with a 6-2 record and a 2.95 earned-run average to earn Freshman All-America honors by Collegiate Baseball. He struck out 91 batters and walked just 19 over 94.2 innings and 14 starts. Cameron was a second-team All-Southland Conference selection and on the Academic Honor Roll as well.
In 2020, a season cut short by the pandemic, Cameron went 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA, striking out 31 and walking just two batters over 28 innings (second in the SLC) and four starts.
“I think Noah has all the qualities that they’re looking for,’ said UCA head coach Nick Harlan, who was the Bears’ pitching coach for both of Cameron’s seasons in a UCA uniform. “He’s a big, strong, durable left-handed arm that throws three pitches for a strike. He has a strong arm, the ball jumps out of his hand and he locates his fastball and he locates a plus off-speed pitch. And he doesn’t give up a lot of free bases. He’s in the zone.
“He throws a heavy, heavy fastball. The ball gets on top of you and it’s a heavy fastball. He makes it uncomfortable for hitters. And he’s constantly ahead in the count. And when you can throw three pitches for strikes, and locate a fastball on both sides of the plate and you’re ahead in the count, you keep hitters guessing. So it’s a very uncomfortable at-bat.’
Harlan said Cameron was a huge factor in UCA’s run to the SLC championship game in 2019 as a true freshman.
“His resume was so good from 2019 and 2020, two really good years,’ said Harlan. “His freshman year was such an impactful year, such a significant part of what we did in ‘19, being one game away from the conference championship.
“And he was on track in ‘20 to do it again, and maybe even have a better year when we got shut down.’
Harlan said Cameron has the makeup, along with the ability, to be an MLB pitcher.
“He’s a big body, strong kid and kind of has an effortless delivery,’ he said. “He has a low heart rate on the mound. He has a plus changeup and he developed a really good slider. He gets ahead and then he has the stuff to put people away. That’s what he does, he earns the opportunity to strike people out and then he has the stuff to do it.
“So he has all the qualities that a professional team is looking for. I think Noah has a great opportunity to advance in professional baseball and one day be playing on TV.’
And his off-the-field intangibles may be the key, according to Harlan.
“Noah has the character to show up and to do it every day, and that’s what pro baseball demands,’ said Harlan. “He can do it consistently and he can be the same guy every day. He has the character to show up and work a process and pro ball absolutely demands that.’
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