It did not take long for three of Oregon State’s most high profile selections of the Major League Baseball draft to sign professional contracts.
Cooper Hjerpe, Justin Boyd and Will Frisch have signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs, respectively, signaling the official start to their professional baseball careers.
The Cardinals drafted Hjerpe Sunday in the first round with the No. 22 overall selection, making the talented left-hander the 13th Beavers player to go the first round. Hjerpe was overpowering in his final season in Corvallis, finishing 11-2 with a 2.53 ERA and 161 strikeouts — most in school history and most in the nation. The dominance earned Hjerpe multiple National Pitching of the Year awards, while making him a unanimous First-Team All-American and a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy.
The Reds selected Boyd with the No. 73 overall pick in the Competitive Balance Round B, which follows the second round. An outfielder with speed, power and a rocket arm, Boyd led the Pac-12 Conference in batting average (.373) and stolen bases (24), while adding nine home runs, 14 doubles, four triples and 53 RBIs. He was named an All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and earned All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honors.
The Cubs nabbed Frisch with the seventh pick of the sixth round at No. 173 overall. The hard-throwing right-hander was scheduled to be a key part of the Beavers’ weekend rotation, but he underwent elbow surgery in March and missed the entire 2022 season. Frisch finished 3-0 with a 2.38 ERA in 2021, earning Freshman All-American honors.
Hjerpe, Boyd and Frisch were part of an eight-player draft class by Oregon State, the most over 20 rounds and tied for second-most in any draft in school history. The rest of the class — Jacob Melton (Houston Astros), Wade Meckler (San Francisco Giants), Gavin Logan (Arizona Diamondbacks), Jake Pfennigs (Oakland Athletics) and DJ Carpenter (Cardinals) — has until Aug. 1 sign contracts with their organizations.
— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories
