MLB Draft Day Two: Brian Holiday 3rd Round to St.Louis and Ehrhard 4th Round to Boston
(Zachary Lancaster contributed to this article)
STILLWATER – Two Oklahoma State players added their names early on day two of the MLB Draft to the Cowboys to go in the 2024 edition of baseball’s player selection process. Three additional Cowboys were selected later in the rounds.
The first Oklahoma State player selected was outfielder/pitcher Caron Benge with the 19th pick in the first round on Sunday evening to the New York Mets. Last with the 25th pick the San Diego Padres selected OSU signee and Elk City High School left-handed pitcher Kash Mayfield. Junior right-handed pitcher Brian Holiday was picked with the sixth pick in the third round (80 overall) to the St. Louis Cardinals and then Cowboy centerfielder Zach Ehrhard was taken with the 115th pick of the Draft and the 12th pick of the fourth round by the Boston Red Sox.
Janzen Keisel, Robert Cranz and Sam Garcia also had their names called. Keisel was selected in the sixth round with the 186th overall pick by the Tampa Bay Rays, Cranz in the 7th round with the 200th overall pick to the Washington Nationals and Garcia in the 8th round with the 245th overall pick to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Holiday had 128 strikeouts this season to lead the Big 12 and he finished with a 7-3 record and a 2.95 ERA. He was clutch for the Cowboys all season and really only had one poor outing all spring. His 128 punchouts came over 113 innings. He leans on a modest lower-90s fastball, the offering carries well and plays up due to his ability as he has tremendous control and ability to place the pitch. He complements the heater with a mid-70s curveball and a low-80s changeup. The biggest knock is his high leg kick style of wind up. In Junior college he led his team to a national championship while finishing with 141 strikeouts over 88 innings in 2023.
Ehrhard was picked for the second time by the Red Sox as they took him in the 2021 Draft as well. The 5-11, 190 pound Ehrhard is an all around player that brings a tremendous amount of energy to the game. In three seasons for the Cowboys he was a clutch player that finished with a .310 career average and .429 slugging percentage 20 home runs, 101 RBI. He had a .994 fielding percentagerunning down a lot of balls in center field and in the gaps the past two seasons.
Keisel is coming off his second season with the Pokes, both of which were successful. This past season as a junior, the BYU transfer made eight starts, going 34 2/3 innings, with a 3.37 ERA and 40 strikeouts. Overall, he finished his OSU career with 20 appearances, which included 12 starts, with a 4.92 ERA with 74 strikeouts in 53 innings.
Cranz was also a transfer pitcher for the Pokes, but out of Wichita State. He made a team-high 30 appearances this season, with a 1.63 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings, all of them in relief.
Garcia made 16 starts for the Pokes, going 7-3, with an ERA of 3.65 with 115 strikeouts in 89 innings pitched.