Texas A&M Baseball Has Three Taken on Day Two of MLB Draft

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News release from Texas A&M Athletics:

FORT WORTH – The Texas A&M baseball team had a trio of student-athletes selected on day two of the 2024 MLB Draft in Ryan Prager, Tanner Jones and Jackson Appel.

After drafting right-hander Chris Cortez on day one, the Los Angeles Angels selected another key Aggie arm in Prager with the 81st pick in the third round. Jones and Appel rounded out the selections on day two for the Maroon & White as both heard their names called in the sixth round. The Kansas City Royals selected Jones with the 167th pick, while the Chicago White Sox drafted Appel with the 169th pick.

With the trio of selections, the Aggies are the only school in the nation to have three or more players picked in every MLB Draft since 2001.

Prager compiled a 9-1 record to go along with a 2.95 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP in 19 appearances in 2024. In 97.2 innings of work, the lefty punched out 124 batters, the ninth-most in a single season in program history, and held opponents to a .226 batting average. Prager also tossed nine quality starts and logged seven scoreless outings.

In a 5-1 win over Kentucky at the College World Series, the lefty carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, marking the second longest no-hit bid in College World Series history at Charles Schwab Field. Prager’s stellar campaign garnered him All-America honors from D1Baseball, NCBWA and Baseball America. Among the SEC, the lefty earned All-SEC Second Team accolades.

In his career representing the Maroon & White, Prager logged a 10-5 record to go along with a 3.78 ERA. The lefty totaled 37 appearances, 35 of which were starts, and racked up 177 strikeouts in 157 innings of work.

In his first season in Aggieland, Jones went 3-1 with a 6.33 ERA in 15 appearances, 12 of which were starts. In 48.1 innings, the right-hander struck out 47 batters. Jones’ best outing in the Maroon & White came on April 13 when he punched out five over 7.1 scoreless innings in a 9-0 win over No. 6 Vanderbilt.

In his lone season with the Aggies, Appel was a stalwart behind the dish for Texas A&M as the senior started 59 of the 65 games he appeared in. The switch-hitter slashed .331/.422/.534 with 10 homers and 41 RBI in 236 plate appearances. Appel also recorded a triple, doubled 16 times, drew 34 walks, scored 48 times and totaled 78 hits.

The senior tallied a team-best 26 multi-hit performances and 11 multi-RBI games. Behind the plate, Appel helped guide the Maroon & White to a 3.86 ERA, which ranked fourth nationally.

The MLB Draft will conclude on Tuesday with rounds 11-20. Coverage begins at 1 p.m. CT with the event streamed on MLB.com.

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