Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners in the Major Leagues
By Chip Rouse
A total of 67 alums of Oklahoma baseball have appeared in major league baseball games.
L. Dale Mitchell, one in the same as the eponymous designation of the Sooner home baseball venue, is listed as the eighth former Oklahoma Sooner player to make it to the big leagues, but he was the first to be named a major league All-Star.
Mitchell was one of nine former Sooners to be selected to a Major League All-Star team and one of 67 players all-time who have seen action in a major league game and played collegiate baseball at Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma alum to spend the longest time in the big leagues was relief pitcher Lyndy McDaniel, whose career in the major leagues extended 21 seasons. He won 141 games as a major leaguer and recorded 172 saves, mostly in the eight seasons he spent in the National League with the St. Louis Cardinals. Although there was no such designation at the time he played, in today’s modern baseball era, McDaniel would be considered a “closer.”
Another former major leaguer out of the University of Oklahoma who had a lengthy career in the major leagues was Eddie Fisher, a right-handed pitcher who played 15 seasons in the Big Show, all but three in the American League, like McDaniel also primarily as a relief pitcher.
Both McDaniel and Fisher played at Oklahoma in the 1950s, and both pitchers were selected for the All-Star Game (McDaniel in 1960 and Fisher, as a member of the Chicago White Sox, in 1965.
Eleven players who played for the Sooners in 2015 were selected in last spring’s Major League Baseball Draft, the most of any school in the 2015 draft.
The University of Oklahoma athletic department reports that 28 former Sooners are currently listed on active professional rosters, with three of those on a 25-man major league roster.
Right-handed starter Garrett Richards of the Los Angeles Angels is the most noteworthy of the three. The other two are Chase Anderson, also a right-handed starter, currently with the Milwaukee Brewers, and Steven Okert, a reliever with the San Francisco Giants.
Jonathan Gray, a starting pitcher with the Colorado Rockies organization, is a fourth former Sooner currently at the major-league level, but he has been out with an injury.
Richards was selected by the Angels in the 2009 MLB Supplemental Draft. He has been on the Angels roster since the 2011 season. His best major league seasons were in 2014 and 2015, when he had a record of 13-4 and 15-12, respectively. His season a year ago was cut short when he suffered a knee injury while covering first base on a put-out play.
Richards is healthy and back in action this season. He has made three starts for the Angels in 2016 and is 0-2 with an ERA of 3.57 in 17.1 innings.
Anderson also has made three starts this season. His record is 1-1 in 17 innings pitched, with a 2.25 ERA, his lowest in three major-league seasons. Anderson spent two seasons (2013-14) as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was taken in the ninth round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Diamondbacks
Okert is in his first MLB season. He has seen limited action so far, pitching 2.2 innings in relief. Okert played one season at OU (2012) and was selected by the Giants in the fourth round of the 2012 MLB Draft.
Six former Sooners started the 2016 season in the minor leagues at the triple-A level: Daniel McCutchen (RHP, El Paso, affiliated with the San Diego Padres), Zach Neal (RHP, Nashville, Oakland A’s), Dillon Overton (LHP, Nashville, Oakland A’s), Cameron Seitzer (1B, Durham, Tampa Bay Rays), Burch Smith (RHP, Durham, Tampa Bay Rays) and Jackson Williams (C, Albuquerque, Colorado Rockies).