SEATTLE – Rutgers outfielder
Ryan Lasko was selected by the Oakland Athletics with the 41st pick in the 2nd round of the MLB Draft on Sunday night.
A native of Jackson, New Jersey, Lasko becomes the highest-drafted Scarlet Knight since Todd Frazier went with the 34th overall pick in the first round in 2007. He is the third-highest draftee in program history after Bobby Brownlie in 2002 (Rd 1, #21) and Frazier among players to be selected in the June amateur draft.
"Congratulations to Ryan for his high draft selection by Oakland!" Head coach
Steve Owens said. "He is a tremendous baseball player with elite defensive skills in centerfield that are game changing at every level. He loves the game and plays hard every single day to help his team win. We wish him the very best as he starts his professional career. There is no doubt that we will be framing his jersey soon enough and adding it to the wall of Rutgers players who have made it to the big leagues."
Lasko wrapped up a historic three-year career on the Banks that saw him become the first player in program history to be named All-Big Ten First team twice, doing so in both 2022 and 2023. He tied the program record with 24 doubles in 2022 and holds the program record with 258 at-bats in 2022. He ranks in the top-10 in Rutgers history in career home runs (38, 3rd), career RBI (135, t-10th), career total bases (372, t-6th), single-season total bases (166 in 2022, 2nd), single-season runs (81 in 2022, 3rd), career runs (169, 9th), single-season hits (90 in 2022, 8th), career doubles (47, t-9th), single-season home runs (16 in 2022, t-3rd),
In 2023, Lasko collected his 200th career hit and became the first player in program history with three straight seasons with 10+ home runs. He led RU with a .332 average, 32 extra-base hits, 73 hits, 58 runs scored while adding 11 home runs and 52 RBIs.
In his career, Lasko owns 201 hits, 56 multi-hit games, 19 games with 3+ hits, seven multi-home run games and nine outfield assists.
He has a lengthy list of accolades, beginning with his freshman campaign when he was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team and a
Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American, while receiving Big Ten Freshman of the Week three different times.
As a sophomore in 2022, Lasko led the Big Ten with 90 hits and 81 runs scored, was named Big Ten Player of the Week twice and was the consensus National Player of the Week on May 3. At the conclusion of the season, he was named Rutgers Athletics Sophomore Athlete of the Year, ABCA/Rawlings Second Team All-America, ECAC Player of the Year, ABCA/Rawlings East All-Region First Team, All-ECAC and All-Big Ten First Team. He was named a semifinalist for the Rawlings Golden Spikes Award and received an invite to USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp.
