Zane Mills Drafted in Fourth Round by St. Louis Cardinals

DENVER, Colo. (July 12, 2021) – Washington State pitcher Zane Mills was selected in the fourth round by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft Monday.
 
Mills, taken as the No. 120 overall pick, is the highest Cougar pitcher drafted since Adam Conley was taken in the second round and No. 72 overall by the Florida Marlins in 2011. Mills is just the sixth Cougar drafted by the Cardinals and first since Ken Cameron in 1995.
 
Mills joins teammate Kyle Manzardo, who was selected in the second round by the Tampa Bay Rays, as the first set of Cougar teammates drafted in the first four rounds of the same draft since Aaron Sele and Scott Hatteberg were both taken in the first round of the 1991 draft.
 
Mills finished his junior campaign eighth in the Pac-12 Conference in innings (80.1) and strikeouts (83), second on the team in wins (5) and earned a pair of Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors (Seattle U, at California). The Portland native worked five-plus innings in ten of his 13 starts this season highlighted by a complete-game win at California and pitched into the eighth inning to earn the win against No. 8 Oregon. Mills also recorded three double-digit strikeout efforts led by a 13-strikeout performance at Dixie State and 10-strikeout games against No. 24 Stanford and at Cal.
 
In his three seasons in Pullman, Mills made 45 appearances including 17 starts and tallied 10 wins and 155 strikeouts in 141.1 innings. The righthander worked six-plus innings in 11 of 17 career starts.