Oklahoma baseball: Two Sooners selected in top 50 of MLB Draft

Monday was not a good day for the Oklahoma baseball team, but for two Sooner players, it turned out to be perhaps the best day of their life.

The Sooners were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in an 8-1 loss to Mississippi State. OU mad a gallant effort in the Tallahassee Regional, wining its first two games, but lost back-to-back games to the same Mississippi State team, bringing the 2018 postseason to a close for the Crimson and Cream.

Neither redshirt sophomore Kyler Murray nor junior outfielder Steele Walker, who made up two-thirds of the Oklahoma starting outfield for most of the season. played in any of the four OU games in the Tallahassee Regional. Both were held out of action with injuries.

While Monday started out in disappointing fashion for both players, any lingering sadness had all disappeared by nightfall, as both were among the top-50 players selected in Major League Baseball’s annual amateur draft.

Murray, a two-sport star at Oklahoma and the odds-on favorite to replace 2017 Heisman winner Baker Mayfield as the Sooners’ starting quarterback this fall, surprisingly was the No. 9 overall pick in the opening round of the MLB Draft on Monday.

I say surprising because to be selected that high in the draft, by the Oakland Athletics, knowing that Murray is likely to play football at Oklahoma for at least one more year. The A’s are certainly taking a calculated risk, given the amount of signing money he will receive and the risk of injury that could potentially impact his professional baseball career, not to mention Oakland’s investment in the Sooner dual-sport star.

Walker’s departure for professional baseball after this season was anticipated. The Sooner right fielder had his best college season in 2018, and he was projected as a late first or second-round draft selection.

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The Chicago White Sox ended the suspense for Walker, selecting him in the second round with the 46th overall pick.

Both Walker and Murray are native Texans, who elected to play baseball at Oklahoma. Murray began his college career on the football field as a quarterback at Texas A&M. He elected to transfer to OU after the first semester his freshman year at A&M. The agreement for Murray coming to Oklahoma was that he be allowed to play both football and baseball.

Murray’s first season playing baseball for the Sooners, in 2017, was nothing to write home about. This season, however, he blossomed into one of the best players on the team, and his speed, baseball skills and athletic ability obviously caught the attention of MLB scouts and front-office personnel.

Murray batted .296 this past season, with 10 home runs and 47 RBI in 51 games. Walker was the Sooners’ leading hitter with a .352 average, a team-high 13 home runs and 53 runs batted in.

As the No. 9 overall player selected in Monday’s opening round of the 2018 MLB Draft, and the only player from the Big 12 taken in the first round, Murray becomes just the fourth Sooner player to be drafted in the first round in the past 35 years. The others are Jonathan Gray (selected No. 3 overall in 2013, by the Colorado Rockies), Bobby Witt (the top pick of the Texas Rangers and No. 3 overall, in 1985) and Ray Hayward (No. 10 overall, selected by the San Diego Padres in 1983).

Three other Sooners were selected in the first 10 rounds of this year’s MLB Draft. Pitcher Jake Irvin was selected by the Washington Nationals in the fourth round with the 131st overall pick.

Right-handed pitcher Austin Hansen was an eighth-round selection, taken by the Houston Astros with the 252nd overall pick, and infielder/outfielder Cade Harris was the 306th overall pick, taken by the Colorado Rockies in the 10th round.

A total of 265 players out of Oklahoma have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams since 1967. At least one Sooner has been drafted every year since 1970.

The final day of the 2018 MLB Draft is Wednesday (rounds 11 through 40).

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