Left-handed pitcher Ryan Prager to return for 2025 season at A&M

הָבָה נָגִילָה

“Hava Nagila” translates from Hebrew to English as “Let Us Rejoice.”

There is plenty of rejoicing in Aggieland as left-handed pitcher Ryan Prager is set to return to Texas A&M for the 2025 campaign despite being drafted in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft.

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Angeles selected the Aggie with the 81st overall pick.

As the Aug. 1 signing deadline for draftees got closer and closer, it appeared Prager and the Angels were not as close as initially expected regarding the lefty’s signing bonus. While the slot value for the 81st pick sat at $948,000, it remains unclear what the A&M ace was offered.

Prager was the fourth player taken by the Angels behind Tennessee’s Christian Moore (eighth overall), fellow Aggie Chris Cortez (45th) and Dallas Baptist RHP Ryan Johnson (74th).

Moore and Cortez signed for under-slot bonuses of $4,997,500 and $1,597,500, while Ryan Johnson inked a $1,747,500 deal, which is approximately $700,000 over his slot value.

Instead of joining those three as Halo farm hands, Prager has elected to remain in college baseball with another year of leverage.

As such, he enters 2025 as arguably the most accomplished pitcher in the nation.

A second-team All-American, according to D1Baseball and the NCBWA, Prager also earned a second-team All-SEC nod behind first-teamers Hagen Smith and Khal Stephen, who signed with the White Sox and Blue Jays, respectively, earlier this month.

In 2024, Prager was 9-1 with a 2.95 ERA in 19 starts, striking out 124 batters in 97.2 innings with just 20 walks.

As A&M’s Opening Day starter, he was brilliant in starts against Rhode Island, Vanderbilt and Arkansas, among others, during the regular season. In the postseason, he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning vs. Kentucky at the 2024 Men’s College World Series.

With two years of MCWS experience, No. 18 provides a bonafide leader on the mound for head coach Michael Earley and pitching coach Jason Kelly.

Prager will be a redshirt junior in 2025.