2022 Arizona Baseball commit Drew Sommers signs with Tampa

Arizona Baseball has lost a key recruit in the class of 2022 as incoming junior college pitcher Drew Sommers has signed a contract with Tampa Bay. 

Despite bringing in a few, key pitching additions for 2022, Arizona Baseball has lost one of its more valuable pieces as junior college transfer Drew Sommers has signed with the Tampa Bay Rays.

A standout left-handed pitcher from Central Arizona College in Coolidge, AZ, Sommers was drafted in the 11th round of the 2022 MLB Draft this past week by the Rays.

And the question over the past several days was if Sommers was going to sign with his respective club. Well, to our dismay, that has officially happened.

Making news on Sunday afternoon was that Sommers has officially signed with the Rays on a contract worth $150,000.

The left-handed pitcher had quite the season for the Vaqueros, compiling a 3-2 record in 53 innings with a 2.04 ERA as CAC won the NJCAA National Title. Sommers also had four saves in 23 appearances.

Losing another valuable piece for next season, Arizona Baseball will have to work quickly to find a potential replacement.

So far for 2023, Arizona has lost several hurlers that had a big impact on the 2022 season which includes Garrett Irvin and Holden Christian to graduation. Beyond that, Javyn Pimental and Chandler Murphy have transferred.

Currently, Arizona has just Brandon Zastrow (Pima), Derek Drees (Butler), and Cam Walty (Nevada) coming in.

Granted the Wildcats have another pitcher in Kris Bow (College of Southern Nevada) that is supposed to come in for next season, but Bow was drafted in the 14th round by the New York Yankees. Luckily, he has not yet signed; however, he has until Aug. 1 to do so.

With there still being a bit of time until the 2023 season, the hope is that Chip Hale and the Wildcats can add more pieces to the class.