MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – St. Thomas University catcher Elih Marrero was drafted Tuesday in the eighth round (250th overall) by the Boston Red Sox in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft.  Marrero became the first player from an NAIA school to be drafted in the 2018 MLB Draft.

Marrero, a junior catcher from Miami (Coral Gables HS), hit .370 with a team-best 80 RBI to go along with 24 doubles and nine home runs in 2018.   Marrero's RBI total ranked sixth in the NAIA, while he ranked ninth nationally in doubles.  A superb defensive catcher, he threw out 12 base runners in 22 stolen base attempts for a .647 caught-stealing percentage.  A 2018 First-Team NAIA All-American, Marrero was also a First-Team All-Sun Conference performer and a Sun Conference Player of the Week winner this past season.

Marrero was part of a St. Thomas University team that led the NAIA statistically in batting average (.361), runs scored (652), hits (817) and doubles (197) in 2018.  Under the direction of Head Coach Jorge Perez, the 2018 Bobcats set the school record for wins in a season (56), won The Sun Conference regular-season championship and advanced to the NAIA World Series for the sixth time in school history. 

Marrero becomes the eighth St. Thomas University player to be drafted in the last seven seasons joining Joel Capote (Angels, 2012), Dane Stone (Marlins, 2012), Ricky Claudio (Mariners, 2013), Emilio Ogando (Royals, 2014), Edwin Medina (Astros, 2014), Jerry Downs (Red Sox, 2015) and Jose Gomez (Brewers, 2016).