Michael Plassmeyer
Mizzou Baseball standouts LHP Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.) and RHP Bryce Montes De Oca (Lawrence, Kan.) were selected on day two of the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft Tuesday. Plassmeyer was the fourth-round selection of the Seattle Mariners (No. 118 overall) while Montes De Oca was selected in the ninth round by the Mets (No. 260 overall).
Mizzou has now had seven players drafted under second-year head coach Steve Bieser.
A product of DeSmet High School in St. Louis, Plassmeyer is the third-highest drafted lefty in school history. Only Dave Otto (39th overall in 1985) and Rob Zastryzny (41st overall in 2013) were drafted higher.
Plassmeyer put together a junior season that ranks among the all-time best for a lefty in Mizzou program history. He posted a 3.05 ERA in 91.1 innings while striking out 103 batters, the fourth-most ever for a Mizzou lefty and the most for a Mizzou southpaw in a single season since 1999. He finished the year ranked second in the SEC in strikeout-walk ratio as his pin-point command was one of the key reasons for his success over the last three seasons. His 3.05 ERA was the SEC’s ninth-best mark this season and he has career ERA of 4.12 in 203.1 innings.
Bryce Mones De Oca
Montes De Oca has now been drafted three times after being selected out of high school in the 2014 MLB Draft by the White Sox in the 14th round, and last year by the Nationals in the 15th round. The ninth-round selection by the Mets is the best placement of his career.
A Lawrence, Kan., native and a strength & conditioning All-American, Montes De Oca is one of the most intriguing arms in the draft at 6-7, 260 pounds with a fastball that can touch triple digits. He is coming off a career-best season as a redshirt junior in 2018, compiling a career-best 3.18 ERA in 54.2 innings. He was slowed by a neck injury midway through the season, but was back 100-percent by the end of the year. He limited batters to .171 hitting and struck out 65 batters in just 54.2 innings. He even threw the first 7.0 innings of a combined no-hitter, striking out a career-high 12 vs. UMBC, earning him SEC Pitcher of the Week and Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week.
