Arkansas added a fourth player to this year’s MLB Draft class Saturday when the Oakland Athletics selected right-hander Gabe Gaeckle with the No. 73 overall pick.
The selection came at the end of the second round and comes with a slot value of $1,156,400.
Gaeckle’s road to the draft started years ago.
He was originally drafted in the 20th round back in 2023 out of high school but chose to head to Fayetteville instead.
That decision paid off across three seasons on the mound for the Razorbacks.
His freshman year set the tone. Gaeckle earned a spot on the Baseball America All-Freshman First Team and the Freshman All-SEC team as he worked his way into the Hogs’ pitching mix.
From there he kept building, and this spring he added SEC All-Tournament honors along with a nod to the Spring SEC Academic Honor Roll.
The junior season itself was his busiest yet. Gaeckle made 20 appearances and 12 starts, finishing 6-3 with a 4.14 ERA.
He struck out 87 batters across 71.2 innings and limited hitters to a .278 average on the year according to 247Sports.
Two outings stand out from the year
Gaeckle opened the season in style, striking out nine batters over 4.1 innings against Oklahoma State in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown at Globe Life Field while allowing just one earned run.
He matched that strikeout total months later in a much bigger spot, coming out of the bullpen against Texas in the SEC Tournament after Hunter Dietz left the game in the first inning.
Gaeckle threw six shutout innings with nine strikeouts to help the Razorbacks pull out the win. Dietz himself went to the Yankees earlier in Saturday’s draft.
Gaeckle now becomes the 10th pitcher developed under coach Matt Hobbs to get picked in the top three rounds since 2021, a stretch that shows how steady Arkansas has been at turning out arms teams want.
He’s also the third pitcher off the Razorbacks’ staff to hear his name called this year, joining fellow arms already off the board.
The draft picks back up Sunday at 10:30 a.m. with rounds five through 20, giving more Arkansas players a shot at joining Gaeckle as pros.
Key takeaways
- Gaeckle is the fourth Razorback drafted this year and went No. 73 overall to Oakland
- He struck out nine batters in each of his two biggest starts of the season, against Oklahoma State and in relief against Texas
- He’s the 10th Matt Hobbs-developed pitcher taken in the top three rounds since 2021
