COLUSA, CA (MPG) – Going into the second day of Major League Baseball’s 2026 Draft, Ethan Lay had a pretty good idea that his name would be called, he just wasn’t sure by which team or when that might happen.
Then Sunday morning, while watching the draft tracker at home with his family, a call came from a number he didn’t recognize. He didn’t answer. After looking up the area code it turned out to be coming from Minnesota. Shortly thereafter his name appeared on the screen. In the sixth round, Lay had been selected by the Twins with the 168th overall pick.
Despite seeing his name and having the nervousness dissipate, Lay says it didn’t immediately sink in that his dream of playing professional baseball had come true, that is until everyone else in the room erupted in jubilation.
“It really wasn’t until my parents started hugging me and I saw their reactions that it really hit me. They have always been my biggest fans and they couldn’t have been more excited. Honestly, I’m still not sure it has fully sunk in yet.”
Lay said that immediately he started getting texts from old coaches and that also helped him understand that this isn’t the type of thing that happens very often.
It certainly is a rare occurrence, especially for a kid from rural Colusa County, although there was precedent.
Two Colusa pitchers, Mike Griffin in 1957 and Matt Vedo in 2012 were subsequently drafted by the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners, while Maxwell’s Tyler Wells was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2014, although Lay’s selection still leaves him in rare air in these parts.
Lay, the former RedHawk standout, spent his first two collegiate seasons playing for Chico State, but used the transfer portal to try his hand playing Division I ball for Sacramento State where he was the Hornets’ ace and in the mix for Pitcher of the Year during his senior season.
A tall right-hander with a calm demeanor and impeccable mechanics, Lay put in 88 innings of work this season for Sac State, recording 93 strikeouts and finishing with a 3.78 ERA, while upping the speed on his fastball to 95 MPH.
With his selection, he becomes the 135th Hornet player to be drafted or signed dating back to 1952.
However, while he was able to celebrate with his family, friends, coaches and teammates last Sunday afternoon, Lay is about to embark on a whirlwind that will take him all the way across the country to his new team.
“I will head out to Fort Myers, Florida, which is the Spring Training facility for the Twins and also the home of the Mighty Mussels, their single-A affiliate. I have to take care of the paperwork and have a physical. I don’t know if I will actually get a chance to play or not, but I will train there until the season is over.”
While Lay has achieved his goal of getting the opportunity to play professional baseball, he knows that nothing is guaranteed and that new challenges await saying, “For sure the stars have aligned a little bit for all of this to happen, but now the dream starts over. I mean I always thought there might be a chance I’d make it, but you never know. I will continue to put in the work, because I don’t want this to be it. I want to go further.”
Nonetheless, one certainty is that Lay has not only his family but a large contingent in Colusa County that is pulling for him to succeed and now are Twins fans.