Checking in on Sooners in the Major Leagues
By Chip Rouse
As the baseball season gets ready to turn the page and head into the final two turns in the regular season, a check on former Sooners in the major leagues shows two on active rosters and one other on injured DL (disabled list) and out for the remainder of the season.
In all, six players who played their collegiate ball for the Oklahoma Sooners have seen action at the major-league level during the current season, but only three have been in The Show for any substantial time this season.
Garrett Richards, a right-handed starter for the Los Angles Angels, is the longest tenured of the Sooners currently in the big leagues. This is his sixth season in the major leagues, all with the Angels, who drafted him in the first round in the 2009 MLB Draft. The former Oklahoma pitcher made only six starts this season, however, before going down with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery.
Richards had a 1-3 record and an ERA of 2.34 when he suffered his season-ending injury in May. The previous two seasons he went 13-4 and 15-12 and was the ace of the Angels starting rotation.
Jonathan Gray is having the best season of the three Sooner pitchers currently in the big leagues. He goes by “Jon” now and is in his first full season, second overall, with the Colorado Rockies. A member of the Rockies’ starting rotation, Gray owns a 7-4 record and a 3.94 ERA with 114 strikeouts and an impressive 3.4 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Gray was the third overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft.
Swings and misses are a big weapon at hitter-friendly Coors Field, and Gray has the arm and the ability to get big strikeouts to get him out of trouble situations.
Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Chase Anderson is struggling a bit this season. In 19 starts for the Brewers in 2016, the right-hander is 5-10 with an ERA (5.40) that is over a run greater than his previous career high. This is his first season with Milwaukee and his third in the major leagues. He was drafted in the ninth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2014 draft.
Anderson has a 20-23 career record in three seasons as a starting pitcher in the major leagues.
Three other former Sooners, all pitchers, made their major league debuts this season, but all are currently back in Triple-A in the minor leagues.
A fourth-round pick by the San Francisco Giants in 2012, Steven Okert has made seven relief appearances in two different stints with the Giants this season, totaling six innings. Over those six innings of work, he surrendered four earned runs and eight hits for an ERA of 6.00.
Zach Neal, a 17th round draft pick of the Florida Marlins in 2010, made his major-league debut this season with the Oakland A’s. He started one game and made eight appearances, recording one save before being sent back down to the A’s Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds.
Neal’s teammate on the Sounds is fellow Oklahoma alum, Dillon Overton, was called up to the Athletics in late June and made a start against the Los Angeles Angels. He went five and two-thirds innings in his major-league starting debut, recording the win in a 7-3 Oakland victory. Overton and would make one more start for the A’s before heading back down to Nashville.