Former Cal Poly catcher Ryan Stafford was selected with the No. 160 overall pick in the fifth round by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2024 MLB Draft on Monday.
Stafford joins teammate Jakob Wright as the second former Mustang drafted in this year’s draft.
The Folsom, Calif. native has been a starter for Cal Poly since his freshman season in 2022, starting every single game every season for the past three seasons.
Stafford capped off his collegiate career with a .368 batting average, a .444 on-base percentage and a .568 slugging percentage in 234 at-bats. This slash line along with 22 runners caught stealing was good enough to earn him Big West Defensive Player of the Year and All-Big West Second-Team Honors for the 2024 season.
The 21-year-old finished his collegiate career as Cal Poly’s all-time doubles leader and was a finalist for the Buster Posey Award, awarded to the best catcher in all of Division I baseball.
During his freshman season, Stafford sported a .321/.384/.431 slash line in 246 at-bats along with a freshman All-American award and a first-team All-Big West award.
He followed that up with a second-team All-Big West award during his sophomore season after sporting a .313/.395./.502 slash line and an appearance on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team under head coach Larry Lee.
Stafford joins an Orioles farm system that ranks first in all of MLB as they’ve recently developed top prospects such as Adley Rutchman, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Grayson Rodriguez and Heston Kjerstad.
