Texas A&M baseball got huge news for Year 1 of the Michael Earley era on Wednesday. Aggie ace Ryan Prager announced that he is returning for the 2025 season, his redshirt junior year.
Prager was draft-eligible this year after being three seasons removed from completing high school. Prager was taken No. 81 overall in the third round by the Los Angeles Angels, but has decided to give the draft another shot next year.
In baseball, it is common to see third-year standouts elect to go pro, exercising negotiation leverage as they have the option to return to college for another year. Having taken a redshirt year in 2023 to recover from injury, Prager will have leverage again in 2025 with the option to return as a redshirt senior in 2026.
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It’s not publicly known what the Angels offered to sign Prager. The slot value for the pick was $948,000. Some teams go over slot on some picks and under slot on others to get certain deals done.
Prager took to social media to share the big news.
Aggieland, let’s run it back. See y’all in Omaha! pic.twitter.com/eVqujHBC3X
— Ryan Prager (@ryanprager10) July 24, 2024
In 2022, as a true freshman, Prager made 18 appearances for the Aggies, including 16 starts. He pitched 59.1 innings, posting 5.16 ERA and 1-4 record, allowing 41 runs (34 earned) on 61 hits and 25 walks while striking out 53 with an opposing batting average of .268.
Prager improved greatly in every statistical as a redshirt sophomore in the 2024 campaign that saw Texas A&M reach the College World Series finals.
This past season, Prager was a 19-game starter with a 9-1 record. As his innings increased to 97.2, he posted reductions in ERA (2.95), runs (36), earned runs (32), and opposing batting average (.226). Prager’s strikeouts, meanwhile, more than doubled to 124.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
