Gonzaga Baseball Draft Fallout: Bell Drafted by Giants, Feld Signs With White Sox
Clearly recognized for their First Team All-WCC campaigns, former Gonzaga Bulldog baseball players Mikey Bell and Justin Feld each received long-awaited calls this past week.
Bell, who transferred to the University of Georgia this offseason, was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 19th round, 568th overall, of the MLB Draft. Although he will likely suit up for UGA for his final year of college eligibility, Bell’s production in the middle of the Zags’ order got him on the radar of major league organizations. With Bell drafted, GU now boasts one of its players being taken in every full MLB draft since 1999.
And despite going undrafted after his senior season in Spokane, Feld inked a deal with the Chicago White Sox shortly after the draft’s conclusion.
Mikey Bell Selected by the Giants in the 19th Round
In just two seasons with Gonzaga, Bell cemented himself as one of the better hitters in program history. Following a transfer from Cuesta Community College after his freshman campaign, Bell won back-to-back WCC Player of the Year Awards, becoming just the second WCC athlete to do so. Across 107 games and 497 plate appearances in a Zag uniform, he slashed .369/.448/.610 and clubbed 20 homers while driving in 92 runs. He finished his tenure with Gonzaga with the eighth-best batting average (.369) and the ninth-most hits (85).
This past season, the third baseman hit .378 and logged an OPS of 1.058. Becoming a more complete hitter, Bell’s game power shifted to a more gap-to-gap style, as he struck 24 doubles, which ranks as the fourth-most in a single season by a Bulldog. He barreled the baseball at an elite rate and displayed good bat-to-ball skills to keep his strikeouts in check, despite being a bit of a free-swinger. Bell racked up plenty of feats in his junior season, notching three five-hit games, a three-double contest, and a six-RBI game.
Although the Giants were the Fresno, Calif., native’s favorite team as a child, Bell is unlikely to be a priority in the organization with his late-round tag. Despite being the 56th player under GU head coach Mark Machtolf to be drafted, he still hasn’t signed with the organization and will head to UGA, in all likelihood, to become a more touted prospect. Another year of production at a Power 4 school like Georgia could increase his stock exponentially in next year’s draft, especially if he improves his swing decisions while maintaining power to all fields. But if he does decide to sign on with San Francisco, he would join another former Zag, Trystan Vierling, who was drafted in 2022 by the New York Yankees and is currently at San Francisco’s Double-A affiliate in Richmond.
Justin Feld Inks UDFA Deal With White Sox
Spending the last three seasons in Spokane, Feld finished his collegiate career on a high note. Primarily working as a starter, he was a First Team All-WCC awardee for the first time in his career, going 7-1 with a 3.47 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in conference play as the Bulldogs’ Friday starter for most of the schedule. Against LMU on April 24, Feld punched out 12 Lions over 6 2/3 innings, which is the highest mark by a pitcher at the Patterson Baseball Complex since 2018. Opposing WCC hitters batted just .228 against Feld, while he posted solid strikeout (22.8%) and walk (9.5%) rates, winding up with about a 2.5-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio.
Feld did this coming off a rough 2025, in which he wore a 7.29 ERA in 54 1/3 innings, and batters hit .281 off him. This followed a promising sophomore season, as Feld earned an All-WCC Honorable Mention nod after pitching to the tune of a 4.17 ERA over 62 2/3 frames in his first year with Gonzaga. The Everett, Wash., native got on GU’s radar after sporting a 1.31 ERA in 89 1/3 innings in his freshman year at Tacoma Community College. Overall, Feld went 15-9 with the Bulldogs, posting a 5.31 ERA spanning 183 innings that included 44 appearances, 32 of them starts.
Aside from showcasing better command on the mound, Feld increased his fastball velocity by about three ticks, initially averaging 90.5 mph on his four-seamer before jumping to 93.1 in 2026. He even topped out at 97 mph in game action, but during a recent workout with Tread Athletics, Feld sat at 97 mph and flirted with 99 mph. During his wind-up, the 6-0 right-hander reaches a low approach angle, making his hard heater even tougher to square up.
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Feld becomes the second former Zag pitcher currently in Chicago’s organization. During the 18th round of the 2024 MLB Draft, the White Sox selected southpaw Liam Paddack, who spent one year with Gonzaga and is currently pitching for Double-A Birmingham. It will be interesting to see whether Feld makes his professional debut this season or if the White Sox get him ready at a development complex before he pitches in a game.
