Former Irvine star Mikey Filia picked in 31st round of MLB draft by Kansas City Royals

Mikey Filia (left) with his father Mike Filia on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy Filia family)

Former Irvine High baseball star Mikey Filia has been dreaming of playing in the Major Leagues one day.

Now, Filia is a step closer after being selected in the 31st round of the Major League draft Wednesday by the Kansas City Royals. He said he will forgo his final year at UCI, where he will graduate from next week, to sign with the Royals.

“I will be signing with the Royals and leaving to start my career in professional baseball,” said FIlia, who had received some interest from the Royals before this week.

Filia recently completed his junior season with UCI, where he earned a baseball scholarship. He redshirted his freshman year. Filia had a .250 career batting average and was third on the team in RBI this year, starting every game in center field.

Filia is a 2015 graduate of Irvine High, where he was also a standout football player.

All day long, Filia said he has been receiving text messages and phone calls from friends congratulating him.

“It was kind of a crazy moment, the guy who drafted me called me actually before it showed up on my laptop,” said Filia, who was following the draft on his computer. “He told me, ‘I just want to congratulate you on being a Kansas City Royal.’

“It didn’t show up yet and then right as I looked again, it showed up so it was kind of a surreal moment. I gave my dad a hug right away, my girl friend was over as well, my mom was at work, Bubba (his younger brother) had a graduation thing but as soon as it happened I got a bunch of texts, a bunch of phone calls and a bunch of stuff on Instagram so it was a special moment for me and I’m just excited for everything. It was fun.”

Filia said he has dreamed of playing professional baseball for many years.

“You always grow up, you want to get drafted or play professional baseball and I get that opportunity. I’m thankful that the Kansas City organization is giving me this opportunity,” he said.

Filia said he enjoyed his experience playing for three years at UCI.

“This year, we had a bunch of talent and it was a really special group and Benny (Coach Orloff) being in his first year as head coach, he did a fantastic job,” Filia said. “Everyone loves Benny obviously no dis-credit to Skip (Mike Gillespie). Skip is a hall of fame coach and always will be and was a fantastic coach. But everyone really worked well with Benny and Benny is going to take the program to where it needs to be.”

Filia has two finals on Tuesday and one final on Thursday before earning his degree in sociology when he graduates next week from UCI. He said it was important for him to earn his degree.

“I have graduation on Friday so I will probably leave that Saturday or Sunday,” he said. “I’m going to get a call from the guy who drafted me later tonight getting me up to speed on stuff and telling me what’s going to go on.”

Filia is not sure where he will be assigned at first and realizes the challenge ahead of actually making it to the Major League level.

“Obviously the trek to the Major League level is very hard,” Filia said. “Just in this draft, there were so many good players and you got to think about all the guys who are in the minors and all the good players and obviously all the good players in the big leagues, so it will obviously be hard but I’m up for the challenge and I’m going to do my best to get to that level.

“I just have to go out and be yourself and have fun and play baseball, a sport you’ve been playing all your life.”

Filia said he’s received plenty of support from his former coaches at Irvine, including former football coach Erik Terry and Gabriel Cota, who was an assistant baseball coach at Irvine and is now the head baseball coach for the Vaqueros.

“They were both very excited for me,” Filia said. “I’ve also gotten a lot of texts from a lot of old teammates at Irvine High congratulating me. So it’s been a really hectic day. My phone has been blowing up from family and friends and teammates. I’m very excited….”

“As a program we are extremely proud of what Mikey has accomplished,” Cota said. “It is a long journey and it took tireless work for Mikey to get to this point. The Filia family has given so much to Irvine baseball we celebrate any joy they have in their life with them. We look forward to what comes next in Mikey’s career.”

FIlia, before this week, said he has been a Chicago Cubs fan. Now he has a new favorite team and is looking forward to the challenge ahead.

“It’s a great organization and I couldn’t be any more excited to join that organization,” Filia said. “It’s all worked out well and now I’m a huge Kansas City Royals fan.”

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com