Elite RHP Drew Rerick flips from Texas A&M to Texas

Ahead of the 2024 MLB Draft starting on Sunday, the Texas Longhorns flipped Fargo (N.D.) Davies right-hander Drew Rerick from the Texas A&M Aggies in a recruiting coup that could be short lived for new head coach Jim Schlossnagle and his staff.

In an interview on Hot Mic in Fargo on Friday, Rerick said that his previous relationships with Schlossnagle and pitching coach Max Weiner impact his decision to flip to Texas. A two-day visit to the Forty Acres also allowed the new coaching staff to pitch the recently-constructed baseball facilities next to UFCU Disch-Falk Field and the program’s winning tradition.

Whether the Longhorns will feel the impact of Rerick on the Forty Acres depends on what happens in the coming days of the draft — the first North Dakotan to attend the MLB Draft Combine in its four years of existence is rated as the No. 242 player by ESPN in this year’s draft .

“At first it was just, ‘I want to play college baseball.’ That was my goal — I always had that confidence — around freshman year, and then I took a big, big jump my sophomore year,” Rerick told MLB.com. “And that’s kind of when the college looks came and then I just kept getting better and better, and it was just like, ‘Well, here comes the professional looks.’ It’s just been really cool ever since.”

Rerick is set to become the first high school player from North Dakota selected in the first 11 rounds of the draft, likely somewhere between the second and fourth rounds.

Originally committed to the Missouri Tigers, Rerick pledged to Texas A&M last August before deciding to stick with Schlossnagle and pitching coach Max Weiner in the hours before the draft.

At 6’5, 230 pounds, Rerick has a prototypical big-bodied frame for a power arm with a fastball that has reached 98 mph, typically sitting in the mid-90s with cut and rise, according to MLB.com. At the Draft Combine last month, Rerick was 92-94 with his fastball while also throwing a slider and a curveball that he added to his arsenal within the last year. Rerick’s changeup remains a work in progress, by his own estimation.

He also has the pedigree — his father, Michael, holds the tie for the all-time single-game Division II strikeout record with 21 for North Dakota State in 1996, two years before becoming a 22nd round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Rerick now joins the ranks of Texas players and signees who will wait to hear their names called in the draft before facing big decisions about their professional futures.