@MizzouBaseball’s Houck Tabbed Top 2017 Draft Prospect by PerfectGame
12/2/2015 9:12:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball sophomore righty Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) was tabbed as the No. 1 prospect for the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft according to PerfectGame.com, as the website released its annual rankings on Wednesday (Dec. 2). Houck, a consensus Freshman All-American in 2015, was also dubbed as the top-rated collegiate prospect in the 2017 draft by Baseball America earlier this season.
Houck put together one of the best freshman seasons in Mizzou baseball history. His eight wins are the most by a Tiger freshman since Kyle Gibson (a former first-round draft pick) in 2007 and his 100.2 innings are the most ever by a Tiger freshman under Tim Jamieson. At the end of the regular season, he had thrown more innings than any other freshman in the country. He compiled a 3.49 ERA on the season, striking out 91 batters over 100.2 innings while walking just 12 in 15 starts as a freshman.
Houck was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List and was an All-SEC Freshman Team honoree earlier this season. He helped Mizzou defeat three top-five teams - No. 6 South Carolina, No. 4 Florida and No. 1 Texas A&M - earning wins in two of those three starts. Houck spent his summer with USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team, where he led the team in innings pitched, strikeouts and starts while boasting an 11-1 strikeout-walk ratio and a .159 opponent batting average. He threw 4.0 perfect innings in a combined no-hitter against Cuba as well.
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