Professional teams pick Texas State baseball, softball players in national drafts

Bobcat Athletics

Jayme Blaschke | August 23, 2018

Three Texas State University baseball team members experienced offseason success when they were selected in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft on June 6.

Luke Sherley, Jonathan Ortega and Cam Baird all landed inside the top 20 rounds. Sherley was picked in the 14th round (No. 405 overall) by the Detroit Tigers, Ortega had his name called in the 19th round (No. 580 overall) by the Boston Red Sox and Baird came off the board in the 20th round (No. 597 overall) via the Miami Marlins.

This marked just the second time in school history–and the first since 2011–that three Bobcats were drafted in the first 20 rounds. There have now been 73 draftees in school history, with 49 coming under the tutelage of head coach Ty Harrington. 

Another former Bobcat, Austen Williams, made his Major League debut Sept. 2 by pitching two scoreless innings for the Washington Nationals. Williams, a 6th round pick in 2014, spent most of the season playing with Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse before getting called up by the parent team.  

The baseball team wasn't the only athletics program to experiencing draft-day success. On April 23, former softball pitcher Randi Rupp was selected fourth overall in the National Pro Fastpitch Draft by the Cleveland Comets. In her debut season, which concluded in early August, Rupp led the team in wins (four), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.04), earned-run average (4.13) and saves (two). She finished second on the team in innings pitched (84.2) and in total strikeouts (47).