Baseball’s amateur draft has been kind to the Butler BlueSox.

Last year, Seneca Valley graduate and University of Pittsburgh catcher Kevan Smith was passed over in the draft, enabling the BlueSox to enjoy his services all summer.

Smith was clearly Butler’s best hitter, batting third in the lineup all year while leading the team in batting average and run production.

This year, the BlueSox signed third baseman-outfielder Shayne Houck of Kutztown University. Like Smith last year, Houck figured to be drafted earlier this month.

Like Smith last year, he wasn’t. Now he’s manning the No. 3 spot in the batting order.

And the BlueSox are reaping the benefits of having the PSAC East Player of the Year stick around.

Houck has not only proven to be the anchor of the Butler lineup. He’s blossomed into the most dangerous hitter in the 14-team Prospect League.

Through Wednesday night’s action, Houck was in line to win the league’s Triple Crown, in fact.

He led the league with a .395 batting average, five points ahead of Chillicothe’s Steve Anderson, a Grand Valley State University product.

Houck shared the league home run lead at four with West Virginia Miner infielder Zach Tanner, who plays his college ball at Wright State.

Houck had 21 RBI on the year as of Wednesday, putting him five in front of Tanner for the league lead in that department.

Consider this guy is doing all of this with a wooden bat while playing in spacious Pullman Park and it makes one wonder if the big league scouts didn’t make a mistake in passing on this slugger.

Next year, Houck will be a senior at Kutztown and with any kind of season, will be drafted by a big league club next June.

That’s how it happened for Smith, who returned to Pitt, had a monstrous final season and was chosen by the Chicago White Sox in the seventh round.

There is no reason not to expect a similarly happy ending for Houck.

In the meantime, his hitting prowess is worth checking out at Pullman Park.

Houck is hitting more than 100 points higher — catcher Jacob Reese is at .293 — than any of his BlueSox teammates. He leads the team in homers, runs, hits, doubles and RBI.

He has eight more hits and five more doubles than any other BlueSox player.

Consider his career numbers in three years at Kutztown: 35 home runs, 49 doubles, 174 runs scored and 160 RBI.

If those figures aren’t career records for that school already, Houck will surely have those records, barring injury, before he leaves Kutztown next spring.

Maybe we’ll see Smith and Houck playing in the major leagues in a few years.

Even if we don’t, it’s a lot of fun watching this kid play now.