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A right-handed pitcher with strong ties to the Altoona area was selected in Sunday's Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
Andrew Wertz, a New Hampshire native whose parents are from Altoona, was picked in the 20th round as the 596th overall pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
"This was a dream of his since probably the age of 5,'' Wertz's mother, Michelle (Hand) Wertz, said on Tuesday.
Michelle Wertz said the Diamondbacks had told her son -- a 6-foot-3, 230-pound relief pitcher -- they wanted to draft him, but they didn't make the pick until their last selection of the draft.
"There were a lot of ups and downs (on Sunday),'' Michelle Wertz said. "… But he finally saw his name, and he said it was ironic, because nothing has been easy for him throughout his baseball career.''
Wertz's mother is a 1988 graduate of Altoona Area High school, and his father, John, graduated from AAHS in 1986. Andrew was born in 2003 in Portsmouth, N.H., and grew up in Dover, N.H.
He has several close relatives in the Altoona Area, including his grandmother, Bonnie Hand Hopkins, who owns Blair Insurance Services, Inc., along with uncles, aunts and cousins.
Wertz started his college baseball career at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., redshirting in 2022 and pitching in 13 games in 2023, before transferring and pitching at Division III Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I., in 2024 and 2025.
He went 4-1 with a 1.33 earned run average and seven saves out of the bullpen in 2025 and earned American Baseball Coaches Association Division III Region 1 all-region second-team honors.
Then, pitching in the New England Collegiate Baseball League last summer, Wertz went 1-2 with a 0.41 ERA and six saves in 17 appearances, and his stock began to rise. He was named the NECBL's Joe Nathan Top Relief Pitcher, was a league all-star and was named a first-team all-NECBL closer.
After earning an Economics degree, he transferred to Division I Northeastern University in Boston for graduate school and went 2-2 with a 3.46 ERA and six saves for the Huskies this past season.
He was named the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament most outstanding player after not allowing a hit and striking out six in 3• innings to lead Northeastern to the CAA championship.
Wertz is reporting to the Diamondbacks' Rookie-level team in Scottsdale, Ariz.