Despite having a quality five-year collegiate career behind him, big righty Luke Taggart went undrafted out of the University of Oklahoma in 2021. Following the draft the Colorado Rockies signed the pitcher from Texas as their lone undrafted free agent of the year. Now Taggart has been tearing up the minor leagues in a way that says 30 teams made a mistake in not drafting him and 29 are missing out on his services—much to the Rockies’ gain.
Luke Taggart College Statistics
Year School W L ERA G GS IP H R ER HR BB SO WHIP
2017 Incarnate Word 2 5 9.88 15 8 41.0 64 50 45 7 22 28 2.098
2018 Incarnate Word 4 5 3.99 15 14 88.0 94 47 39 7 19 57 1.284
2019 Incarnate Word 7 5 3.68 19 8 88.0 82 41 36 12 17 76 1.125
2020 Incarnate Word 2 2 3.08 4 4 26.1 22 12 9 2 6 28 1.063
2021 Oklahoma 1 6 4.30 22 2 37.2 35 19 18 5 15 54 1.327
TOTAL NCAA 16 23 4.71 75 36 281.0 297 169 147 33 79 243 1.338
Information courtesy of Baseball Reference.
Don’t let the career 4.71 ERA in college fool you, because Taggart had a very strong collegiate career with numbers skewed by a rough freshman campaign. During his freshman year with Incarnate Word in Texas, Taggart had an ERA of 9.88 through 41 innings pitched. Moving into his sophomore year he showed immediate and massive improvement. He would not finish a season with an ERA above 4.00 again for the rest of his career with the Incarnate Word Cardinals. After the first massive jump forward between 2017 and 2018, Taggart’s numbers steadily improved each year, culminating in an excellent truncated 2020 season where he had the second lowest ERA among Cardinals starting pitchers.
Taggart transferred to the University of Oklahoma as a graduate student for the 2021 season, where he mostly appeared out of the bullpen over 37 2⁄3 innings. His move to the Big 12 came some adjustment. He finished the season with an ERA of 4.30 and a WHIP of 1.327, a bit of a step down from his senior year at Incarnate Word. However, he also struck out 54 batters for a strong K/9 of 12.9.
Baseball America named Taggart one of Oklahoma’s top MLB draft prospects prior to the 2021 draft, yet all 20 rounds came and went without his name being called. The Rockies quickly signed him as a free agent with a $20,000 signing bonus—a signing that is looking like quite the steal early in Taggart’s professional career. Baseball America called Taggart the Rockies’ best late round or undrafted pick.
The Rockies assigned Luke Taggart to their Arizona Complex League team to kick off his professional baseball career. In the short ACL season he made two appearances and pitched three innings without giving up a single hit or even allowing a single baserunner. He struck out six of the nine batters he faced on the way to the ACL Championship title.
Taggart was sent straight to High-A Spokane to start the 2022 season, where he has continued to thrive on the mound through April. In 13 innings and seven total appearances Taggart has yet to allow a run, earned or not. He’s struck out 17 batters for a K/9 of 11.8 and has given up just for hits and three walks for a WHIP of 0.538. Taggart has also earned three saves working late innings with the Indians, the first of his professional career. He was named the Rockies’ MiLB pitcher of the month for April.
While the season is still young, Luke Taggart has been one of the best surprises out of the Rockies farm system. At 24 years old and pitching this well, he has a chance to be an absolute gem that all 30 teams will regret not drafting, and 29 will regret not bringing into the fold. Here’s looking forward to more great pitching from the big Texan reliever.
Full article can be found at: https://www.purplerow.com/2022/5/5/23056064/colorado-rockies-news-luke-taggart-might-be-an-undrafted-gem-as-he-impresses-in-the-farm-system