SAN DIEGO — Sophomore left-handed pitcher Brycen Mautz was selected in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft (59th overall pick) by the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday evening, marking the 33rd consecutive year that at least one Torero was drafted by a big league club.

The San Diego, California native (Westview High School) set forth a dynamic campaign in 2022, one that saw him lead the WCC in strikeouts with 129, a mark that ranked 11th nationally. He paced USD with an 10-2 overall record in 2022 alongside a 3.87 ERA in a team-high 15 games started and 90.2 innings pitched.

His 5.86 strikeout to walk ratio led the conference and ranked 28th nationally and his average of 12.81 strikeouts per nine led the WCC and was 14th nationally. The 6-foot-3 lefty was one of four WCC pitchers to turn in a complete game, tossed at least five innings in 14 of his 15 starts in 2022 (the lone exception being a 4.2-inning effort in San Diego's 9-6 win over Pacific), and surrendered three earned runs or less in 11 of those 15 outings. He was named the WCC Pitcher of the Week on April 18, was selected as a Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week on March 7, and earned All-WCC First Team honors on May 23.

Mautz concluded his 2022 season with a masterful start at the NCAA Corvallis Regional against perennial powerhouse Vanderbilt, leading the Toreros to a thrilling 3-2 win over the Commodores at Goss Stadium with seven innings of one-run ball, walking just one and striking out five along the way.

A Behavioral Neuroscience major, Mautz's selection at No. 59 marks the highest a San Diego player has been drafted since 2015, when shortstop Kyle Holder was chosen at No. 30 by the New York Yankees.

He is the eighth-highest drafted Torero of all time and the 144th player in USD history to either have his name called in the MLB Draft or sign with a Major League team, a span that dates back to 1964.