PHOENIX -- D-backs team president/CEO Derrick Hall said he got choked up and scouting director Deric Ladnier said there wasn't a dry eye in the Arizona Draft room when scouting assistant Cory Hahn announced the team's 34th-round pick on Wednesday.
That's because the D-backs recently decided to name its annual 34th-round pick the "Cory Hahn 34th pick." It is believed to be the first time a Major League team has named a pick after someone.
Hahn was a freshman baseball player at Arizona State who had his career cut short on Feb. 20, 2011, when he fractured the C5 vertebrae in his neck and was paralyzed from the chest down while sliding headfirst into second on a stolen-base attempt.