Oregon State Beavers ace Cooper Hjerpe is headed to the St. Louis Cardinals after they drafted him with the 22nd overall pick of the 2022 MLB draft on Sunday.
Hjerpe garnered multiple national pitcher of the year awards after a stellar 2022 season in which he went 11-2 with a 2.53 ERA. Hjerpe led the nation in strikeouts with 161, which came across 103 1/3 innings and also were a school record. The left-hander also was named a finalist for both the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy, given to college baseball’s national player of the year.
In 41 total appearances for the Beavers over three seasons, Hjerpe went 15-9 with a 3.37 ERA and 275 strikeouts.
Hjerpe, who is from Capay, California, is the 13th Beavers player to be selected in the first round. He is Oregon State’s first pitcher to be taken in the opening round since Drew Rasmussen in 2017.
St. Louis has previously taken 10 other Oregon State players in the draft, the most recent being Dylan Pearce in 2019.
