Duke righty Van Orden drafted in Round 5 by Nats

With the No. 154 overall pick in the fifth round of the First-Year Player Draft on Friday, the Nationals selected Drew Van Orden, a right-hander out of Duke.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior had impressive numbers this past season for the Blue Devils, sporting a 3.19 ERA with 91 strikeouts in 87 1/3 innings over 14 starts. He led the team in innings, strikeouts and walks.

The Draft concludes on Saturday with exclusive coverage of Rounds 11-40 beginning on MLB.com at 1 p.m. ET.

Van Orden moved into the Friday-night starter role before Duke's ACC slate, and he finished the season ranked 13th in the conference in opponents' batting average at .219. He led the Blue Devils to a 6-0 ACC Tournament victory over Georgia Tech, the eventual champions, with eight strikeouts in his first career shutout, and he was named to the All-Tournament team for his performance.

"The pitching we got are all guys with good bodies, good deliveries," vice president of scouting operations Kris Kline said.

Van Orden made 12 starts as a junior in 2013, going 3-5 with a 5.94 ERA. He struggled mightily against ACC competition, posting a 7.44 ERA in 11 conference appearances, eight of them starts. However, he showed drastic improvement in his senior season in 2014, allowing 24 earned runs over 64 innings in 10 ACC starts, which accounted for a 3.38 in-conference ERA.