Gonzaga pitcher Owen Wild, Washington State outfielder Jonah Advincula selected in late rounds of MLB draft
From staff reports
Two players from local universities were selected in the late rounds of the MLB draft on Monday.
Gonzaga pitcher Owen Wild was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 213th overall pick and Washington State outfielder Jonah Advincula was selected by the Cleveland Guardians with the 248th overall selection.
Wild was drafted in the seventh round and Advincula in the eighth.
Wild, the Zags No. 1 starting pitcher last season, compiled a 4-7 record, 4.93 earned run average, 105 strikeouts and 31 walks.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound junior had his best season as a sophomore, with a 9-1 record and 3.03 ERA.
Wild, 20, of Sacramento, California, follows a growing group of Bulldogs pitchers in the pros.
Gabriel Hughes was drafted 10th overall by the Colorado Rockies in 2022.
There are three former Zags pitchers on MLB rosters : Marco Gonzales with the Seattle Mariners, Eli Morgan with the Cleveland Guardians and Alek Jacob, who was called up by the San Diego Padres last week.
Advincula, the Cougars’ centerfielder and leadoff hitter this year, earned an All-Pac-12 honorable mention nod after a productive junior season in 2023 – his first season with the program.
The 6-foot-1, 197-pound junior from Santa Clara, California, started 51 games for the Cougars, batting .350 with 53 runs scored, 20 doubles, four triples, five home runs and 33 RBI. He was 24-for-26 in stolen-base attempts.
Advincula led WSU in runs, doubles, triples and stolen bases. He ranked fourth in the Pac-12 in stolen bases and tied for sixth in doubles. Advincula is the first player in WSU history to record 20 doubles and 20 stolen bases in a season.
He logged 21 multiple-hit games and reached base in 22 consecutive games during one stretch of the season. Advincula recorded a hit in 13 straight games early this year, batting 24-for-58 (.414) with 16 RBI, six doubles, two triples and two homers in that streak.
Before coming to WSU, Advincula was a star player at the University of Redlands, a Division III program in Southern California. He was named to the D-III All-West Region team in 2022 after batting .430 with three doubles, five triples, seven home runs, 38 RBI and 28 stolen bases.
Advincula becomes the 181st player to be drafted out of WSU in program history, and the 42nd Cougar player to be selected in the first 10 rounds, according to thebaseballcube.com. He is the first Cougar picked by Cleveland since pitcher Jeremy Johnson in 2009. Advincula will join 11 other former Cougs in the professional baseball ranks.