Baseball’s Recruiting Class Ranked 7th
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State baseball’s incoming recruiting class, currently readying for the 2015 season, has been rated as seventh-best in the nation by Perfect Game.
This is the second top-10 ranking for the Beavers, who were selected as No. 9 by Baseball America last week.
The Beavers have five freshmen who were drafted by MLB clubs in June but who elected to attend school. They include Joe Gillette (23rd round, St. Louis), KJ Harrison (25th round, Cleveland), Elliott Cary (32nd round, Washington), Michael Gretler (39th round, Boston) and Drew Rasmussen (39th round, Arizona).
Cary is the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Oregon after batting .520 for Clackamas High School as a senior. He’ll be joined by the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Washington in left-handed pitcher Luke Heimlich. He went 11-1 with a 0.66 earned run average for Puyallup High School last season.
Rasmussen, meanwhile, matched Heimlich’s numbers with an 11-0 record and 0.57 ERA for Mt. Spokane High School. Harrison batted .534 and drove in 28 runs to earn All-State honors in Hawai’i, where he was joined by Christian Donahue, who batted .412 with 16 RBI and nine stolen bases. Gillette earned all-state honors in California after a .442, six-home run season while Gretler batted .500 with six home runs with 24 RBI to earn all-state in Washington while at Bonney Lake High School.
Baseball America also listed Jackson Soto, who hit .519 to be named all-state in Oregon, along with Sam Tweedt, who went 6-4 with a 1.00 ERA and was named second-team all-league for South Salem High School. Left-handed pitcher Ryan Mets sported a 1.75 ERA with 134 strikeouts in 72 innings and was named his league’s MVP for North Thurston High School in Olympia, Wash. The lone junior college transfer to be recognized by Baseball America is right-handed pitcher Travis Eckert, who was 10-1 with a 1.20 ERA for Clark Junior College in Vancouver, Wash., last season.
The Beavers have five of the top seven high school prospects from the state of Oregon, according to BaseballNorthwest, along with three of the top six from Washington.
According to Perfect Game, both Harrison (85) and Gillette (95) rank in their top 100 signees list.
Interested in a season ticket for the 2015 home slate? Reserve yours with a $50 deposit. Contact the Oregon State ticket office by calling 1-800-GOBEAVS or visiting BeaverTickets.com. Renewals for 2014 season ticket holders will be mailed later this fall.
For more information on the Oregon State baseball team, follow the club’s official Twitter account at Twitter.com/Beaver_Baseball, by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateBaseball or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverBaseball.