NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Texas Rangers southpaw Mike Minor clawed his way to 200 strikeouts in his final start of the season Thursday afternoon, and in the process helped Vanderbilt become the first NCAA program in history to have three Major League Baseball pitchers reach the milestone in a single season.
Minor is joined by Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler (207 strikeouts) and Cincinnati Reds right-hander Sonny Gray (205). Each of the three were recognized as MLB All-Stars at the 90th annual Midsummer Classic in Cleveland.
Minor needed all of his career-high 126 pitches against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, punching out Chris Owings on an 86 mile-per-hour changeup for the second out of the ninth inning before being pulled from the contest.
💯 x 2 pic.twitter.com/KqqtZZqKkI
— #FarewellGLP (@Rangers) September 26, 2019
Four NCAA programs have boasted two 200-plus strikeout pitchers in the same season, including UCLA who did so with Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer in 2018 and 2019. Stetson alums Corey Kluber and Jacob deGrom did so three times (2015, 2017 and 2018). Southern Cal products Randy Johnson and Barry Zito accomplished the feat in 2001 while Texas’ Roger Clemens and Shane Reynolds did so in 1996 and 1998.
#VandyBoys ✖️ #AllStarGame pic.twitter.com/V1yzel63yn
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 10, 2019
Current Red Sox hurler David Price owns the Vanderbilt MLB record for single-season strikeouts with 271. The lefty holds the top-five spots among alums with 200-strikeout campaigns in 2016 (228), 2015 (225), 2011 (218) and 2012 (205).
