Cowboys’ Campbell Selected in 1st Round of Draft
Cowboys’ Campbell Selected in 1st Round of Draft Okstate.com Wed, 07/20/2022 - 06:43
LOS ANGELES – Oklahoma State pitcher Justin Campbell was selected by the Cleveland Guardians in the Competitive Balance Round A (first round) with the 37th overall pick of the Major League Baseball Draft Sunday.
Campbell is the 19th first-round draft pick in the history of OSU baseball and the first since Jason Hursh in 2013.
A right-hander from Simi Valley, Calif., Campbell is one of 12 two-time All-Americans in Cowboy baseball history, and he became the program‚s 27th firstteam honoree in 2022.
In just over two seasons in Stillwater, Campbell posted a 17-6 record in 35 appearances, 33 of those starts, to go along with a 3.37 ERA and 265 strikeouts in 205 2/3 innings.
Campbell ranks seventh on OSU‚s alltime strikeouts list, and he is only the fourth Cowboy pitcher to record 100-plus strikeouts in a season twice in a career.
In 2021, Campbell tossed only the third nine-inning no-hitter by an OSU pitcher in program history as he achieved that feat at Kansas in a game in which he struck out 11 and issued just one walk.
Campbell was 9-2 with a 3.82 ERA in 17 appearances (16 starts) last season; he tossed two complete games and opponents hit just .223 against him. In 101 1/3 innings, he tallied 141 strikeouts, a total that ranked seventh nationally and is the fifth most in a single season in OSU history.
A Golden Spikes Award semifinalist and an All-Big 12 First Team performer in ’22, Campbell posted double-digit strikeout totals six times and struck out at least eight in 11 of his 16 starts, including a career-high 14 punchouts against TCU.
After going 1-2 with a 4.43 ERA in four starts as a freshman during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Campbell established himself as an ace in 2021, recording a 7-2 record and 2.57 ERA and collecting 102 strikeouts in 84 innings.
Campbell served as a two-way player in ’21, also playing the role of part-time designated hitter for the Cowboys and hitting .269 with a home run, five doubles and 10 RBIs. He was one of five finalists for the 2021 John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award.
In the summer of 2021, Campbell pitched for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.
Campbell was an 18th-round draft pick of Houston out of Simi Valley High School in the 2019 MLB Draft.
