BATON ROUGE - The final pick on day 1 of the 2016 Major League baseball draft was colored purple and gold as the Tampa Bay Rays selected LSU outfielder Jake Fraley with the 77th pick.

With the pick, the Rays add one of the top hitters from the Tigers over the past 3 years.

The Tigers junior is hitting .324 this season after hitting .307 during his sophomore campaign and .372 in 121 at bats as a freshman - Fraley earned freshman all-america honors that year.

Fraley has said he would leave for the majors if given the chance: he said his time at LSU helped prepare him for the move.

"A big reason why I chose LSU was because I would be blessed and fortunate enough to be around a coaching staff that would prepare me on the baseball side as well as being a man," Fraley said.  "The Lord has blessed me with people around me that prepared me for every step of the way."