Chad Mottola - Baseball (1990-92) - Class of 2008

UCF's first Major League Baseball first-round draft pick when he was selected fifth overall in 1992 by the Cincinnati Reds, one pick ahead of the New York Yankees Derek Jeter ... made a career playing professional baseball, 16 seasons from 1992-2007, spending parts of five seasons in the Major Leagues ... had a Hall of Fame career for the Knights batting .331 in 177 games played ... started 171 career games, with 670 at bats, 145 runs scored, 222 hits, 39 doubles, 20 triples, 23 home runs, 148 RBI and 370 total bases ... had a career .552 slugging percentage ... many of his career statistics still stand amongst top marks all-time at UCF, including triples (1), RBI (8) and total bases (8) ... his stellar career culminated with a breakout junior campaign in 1992 when he earned first-team All-American honors after leading the Knights with 52 runs scored, seven triples, 14 homers and 143 total bases ... his 14 home runs in 1992 still places seventh all-time on the single-season list ... finished the 1992 season with a .329 batting average along with a career-best .627 slugging percentage ... came to UCF in 1990 as a heralded prospect out of Ft. Lauderdale's St. Thomas Aquinas, where he was a 10th round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles as a senior ... Mottola would first reach the Majors during his rookie season with Cincinnati in 1996 at the age of 24 playing 35 games for the Reds ... would get his next call-up to the Big Leagues in 2000 with the Toronto Blue Jays organization ... after being traded to his hometown Florida Marlins, Mottola was once again got called-up for the fish in 2001 ... his next MLB appearance came in 2004 with the Baltimore Orioles ... he rejoined the Toronto farm system in 2005 playing for Triple AAA Syracuse where he has spent the last three seasons, getting another stint in 2006, earning another call-up with the Blue Jays most recently in 2006 ... Mottola earned several honors playing in the minor leagues including, Carolina League All-Star (1993), International League All-Star (1999), Triple-A All-Star (2000), Baseball America first-team Minor League All-Star (2000), International League Most Valuable Player (2000), Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Player of the Year (2000), International League All-Star (2000).