The 2024 MLB Draft took place July 14-16, and four O’Fallon alumni were picked up by MLB organizations.
Day two of the event saw pitchers Jack Crowder and Jacob Kroeger go in the ninth and 10th round respectively, while Jack Clohisy heard his name called in the 11th round and Eric Loomis in the 16th round on the final day of the draft.
Crowder spent the 2021 season with the Hoots, and was drafted in the ninth round by the Baltimore Orioles with pick number 279. During that 2021 season with the Hoots, Crowder appeared in three games, compiling a 3.44 earned run average (ERA) across 15.2 innings and picking up two wins. Come playoff time, Crowder pitched one, scoreless inning. Collegiately, Crowder spent four seasons on the University of Illinois baseball team. This past season, Crowder made 16 starts, going 7-2 and finishing with a 4.88 ERA in 90.1 innings.
While Kroeger never suited up for the Hoots, he was a member of the 2021 Rubber Chickens, one of O’Fallon’s house teams in the CarShield Collegiate League, now the 1st Phorm Collegiate League. A five-year member of Maryville University’s squad, Kroeger finished this past season with a 3.18 ERA over 90.2 innings; that ERA was the best at Maryville among eligible pitchers. Kroeger also led the Saints in starts, complete games, innings pitched, and strikeouts, among other stats. Kroeger finds himself heading to the Atlanta Braves system, who drafted him with pick 311 in the 10th round.
The Braves continued their run on O’Fallon products when they drafted Clohisy in the 11th round with pick 341. The Saint Louis University (SLU) alum appeared for the Hoots in the 2022 season when he played in 48 games. During his tenure in the black and gold, Clohisy hit .323 while smacking 10 home runs. His on-base-plus-slugging was nothing to scoff at either, sitting at 1.025. That stellar bat carried over to SLU; this past season, Clohisy led the Atlantic 10 Conference in batting average, runs-per-game, and triples, earning himself First-Team All-Conference honors.
The 16th round saw the final O’Fallon alum drafted, when pitcher Eric Loomis from Missouri State University (MSU) was picked by the Texas Rangers with the 495th pick. Loomis made just two appearances for the Hoots in 2023, allowing no runs across 2.2 innings while striking out four. As for his last season with MSU, Loomis often pitched out of the bullpen, making 29 appearances with two of those being starts; those 29 appearances were second most in the Missouri Valley Conference. In his MSU career as a whole, Loomis made 54 appearances with a 6.75 ERA and 78 strikeouts.
