Oklahoma baseball ranks 3rd in Big 12 in active MLB players

It is the goal and hope of most every Oklahoma baseball player to have the opportunity to play professional baseball and, ultimately, at the major league level.

To make it to the big leagues is a lofty goal, for sure. For most, it is a dream that goes unfulfilled dream. But for a very few, it is a dream come true.

According to the Baseball Almanac, 73 players who played collegiately at Oklahoma have made it to the major leagues. To further illustrate how difficult that is, the list of former Sooners who have made it to the highest level of professional baseball spans 113 years, dating back to 1908, when Chuck Brandom, a pitcher, made his major-league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Fifteen days after Brandom debuted with the Pirates, his pitching teammate at Oklahoma, Elmer Ponder made his MLB debut with the same Pirates team.

Four former Sooners were on active MLB roster on opening day this season. All four are pitchers and three of the four are starting pitchers.

Chase Anderson is a right-handed starter with the Philadelphia Phillies. Jon Gray is a starter with the Colorado Rockies and Garrett Richards is a starter for the Boston Red Sox.

Burch Smith is in his second season as a right-handed pitcher with the Oakland Athletics.

Anderson is in his eighth major-league season and his first with the Phillies. He had previous stops at Arizona, the team that drafted and signed him in 2009, Milwaukee and Toronto. He has a career record of 54-43 with a 4.06.

Gray, who throws from the right side, has spent all seven of his major-league seasons with the Colorado Rockies. He is 45-37 in his career with a 4.57 ERA. He was drafted by the Rockies in the first round, third overall, of the 2013 MLB Draft

Richards, a first-round draft pick in 2009, made his major-league debut in 2011 with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He remained with the Angels for eight seasons. While in Los Angeles, the right-hander was 40-35 in a starting role. In 2018 he signed a two-year contract with the San Diego Padres, and this past offseason he signed a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox.

Smith is in his fifth season with five different MLB teams. He began his major-league career in 2013 with the San Diego Padres, who drafted him in the 14th round in 2011. He has spent time with the Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants before landing in Oakland last season.

Among Big 12 teams, only TCU and Texas, with five each, have more players on active 2021 Major League Baseball rosters than Oklahoma