No. 1 overall pick headlines Pac-12 record 70 selections in 2019 MLB Draft

SAN FRANCISCO - Seventy Pac-12 student-athletes were selected over three days of the 2019 MLB Draft, including Oregon State’s Adley Rutschman being selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the Baltimore Orioles, giving the Conference an NCAA-best seven No. 1 overall draft picks all-time. The 70 Pac-12 selections are the most-ever for the Conference, breaking the previous record of 69 in 2011.

For the eighth-straight year, all 11 league programs had at least one player drafted. Additionally, the Pac-12 averaged 6.36 student-athletes drafted per team, the best average of any conference. The Conference had three picks in the top 10 for the first time since 2006 with California’s Andrew Vaughn being selected with the third pick and Arizona State’s Hunter Bishop chosen with the 10th pick. UCLA’s 13 selections are tied for the most of any school in the nation. After UCLA, Stanford had the second-most picks in the Pac-12 with nine, followed by California, Oregon State and USC with seven selections apiece.

Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman made history as the Beavers’ first-ever No. 1 overall pick after he was selected by the Baltimore Orioles. The Pac-12 Player of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year is the seventh Pac-12 player to go No. 1 overall, the most of any conference, and the first since Stanford’s Mark Appel in 2013. Since 2011, five college players were selected with the top pick, and three of them have come from the Conference of Champions (Appel, 2013; UCLA’s Gerrit Cole, 2011).

Cal first baseman Andrew Vaughn also set a new Golden Bears’ standard, becoming the highest selection in program history with the third overall pick by the Chicago White Sox. The previous high was in 2006 when Brandon Morrow went fifth overall. The Pac-12 also had the Nos. 1 and 3 picks in the 2011 draft. The league has had two of the top three picks four times (2019, 2011, 1991, 1978) in the history of the draft since 1965, the most of any other conference. Cal’s catcher Korey Lee was also selected in the first round with the 32nd overall pick by the Houston Astros. It marked the first time in school history that multiple student-athletes were selected in the first round.

Arizona State’s Hunter Bishop, a native of Palo Alto, Calif., is heading back to his Bay Area home after he was selected with the 10th overall pick by the San Francisco Giants. He is the first Sun Devil to be selected in the first round since 2012 and the first to be chosen in the top 10 since 2009.

UCLA’s 13 total selections set a new program record and is tied with Vanderbilt for the most picks of any school in this year’s draft. UCLA was the only team in the nation to have three student-athletes selected in the first two rounds of the draft. Junior first baseman Michael Toglia was the first-round selection (No. 23 overall) of the Colorado Rockies, while junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Garcia (No. 50 overall, Texas Rangers) and junior second baseman Chase Strumpf (No. 64 overall, Chicago Cubs) were taken in the second round. It marks the second time in program history, and first since 1987, that UCLA has had three players selected in the first two rounds of the MLB Draft.

2019 MLB Draft Selections by School
UCLA – 13
Stanford – 9
California – 7
Oregon State – 7
USC – 7
Arizona – 6
Washington – 6
Arizona State – 5
Oregon – 5
Washington State – 4
Utah – 1