DENVER, Colo. – Gardner-Webb pitcher Mason Miller was selected in the third round (97th pick) of the 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Oakland Athletics Tuesday afternoon.
Miller (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park HS) becomes the second-highest draftee in Gardner-Webb's Division I era, following Zach Ward, who was picked 92nd overall by the Cincinnati Reds in 2005.
The six-foot-five, 205-pound righty finished the 2021 season with an 8-1 record, forging a 3.30 ERA with 121 strikeouts in 92.2 innings of work. In fifteen trips to the mound, Miller fanned 10 or more batters on seven occasions, including a season-high 13 in a 6-2 win at Campbell on March 5.
Miller led the Big South Conference and ranked 21st in the nation with 121 strikeouts, the second most in a single season by a Gardner-Webb pitcher. His 11.75 strikeouts per nine innings ratio also ranks second for a single season in program history and his .210 opponent batting average tops the all-time GWU listing.
Miller was a 2021 Big South All-Conference First Team selection and was named to the 2021 ABCA/Rawlings Division I Atlantic All-Region Second Team and is the first Runnin' Bulldog to be drafted by the Athletics.
