The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers are set to compete in the 2024 World Series beginning this Friday, Oct. 25. Both teams have swarms of talented players. Many of those talented players were just as good during their days in college baseball. Here is a look back at some of the players in the 2024 World Series who were also great in college.
Gerrit Cole – UCLA Bruins
Before his successful MLB career, the New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole spent his college years playing for the UCLA Bruins.
In 49 career starts for UCLA, he finished with a 3.38 ERA and struck out 376 opposing batters. This put him second on the Bruins’ all-time career strikeout leader list. He is also top five in school history in career innings, career starts, and the single-season strikeout list (153 in the 2010 season).
He ranks 6th all-time in Pac-12 history in career strikeouts as well. His career-best strikeout game came during his sophomore season in 2010 when he sat 15 batters down in a win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. It was one of 11 wins that season for Cole as he finished with an 11-4 record.
Later that season, Cole helped UCLA advance to the national championship series in Omaha, Neb. He pitched in game one against the South Carolina Gamecocks but lost. Eventually, the Bruins finished as national runners-up that season.
The New York Yankees drafted Cole in the first round.
Walker Buehler – Vanderbilt Commodores
Walker Buehler pitched in Nashville for Vanderbilt under head coach Tim Corbin from 2013-2015. He was a member of the Commodores’ 2014 national championship team that also featured another big leaguer in Dansby Swanson.
He had sub-3.15 ERAs in all three seasons with Vanderbilt and recorded 260 strikeouts in his entire career. This includes 111 during the 2014 national championship season. That same season, he finished with a 12-2 record and an ERA of 2.64.
His career-best outing came against the Ole Miss Rebels during his junior season on Apr. 10, 2015. He threw 13 strikeouts while allowing just one earned run in 8.0 innings of work.
During his Vanderbilt career, Corbin had nothing but good thoughts on Buehler and his pitching game.
“Walk [Walker] has been a very consistent performer and winner on our pitching staff since his freshman year. He came to us with an advanced skill set for pitching and he has continually improved upon that. Walker has great aptitude for the game and his ability continues to move forward. He has been a big game pitcher for us and will once again have a large role on our staff.”
Buehler was a first-round pick in the 2015 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Carlos Rodón – NC State Wolfpack
Carlos Rodón had explosive stuff during his college baseball career with the NC State Wolfpack in Raleigh, N.C.
His 2012 freshman season was special. He had a 1.57 ERA in 114.2 innings, an undefeated 9-0 record, and was named ACC pitcher of the year, the first time this had ever happened.
The next two seasons would be nothing but success for Rodón, who had sub-3.00 ERAs in both his sophomore and junior years and a combined record of 15-10 throughout those two seasons.
In 2013, during his sophomore season, he set the NC State single-season strikeout record with 184. The next year, in 2014, he would set the career strikeout record in program history with 436.
Rodón was selected third overall in the 2014 MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox.
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WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
WBN MLB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/mlb/
Photo Credit: Gerrit Cole#12 on the mound during the 2010 NCAA Baseball CWS Championship. (Photo by Patrick Green/ Icon SMI/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images)
