A pair of Houston Baseball pitchers were drafted in the MLB Draft on Tuesday with the Tampa Bay Rays selecting Cade Citelli in the 11th round (no. 336) and Owen Woodward getting picked in the 15th round (no. 443) by the New York Mets.

Citelli surged onto the scene in the Big 12 Conference after pitching 4.1 innings in relief against Texas. Woodward started the game twirling 4.2 innings of one hit work. Following the Texas series, Citelli pitched to a 2.45 ERA in four starts and struck out 22 in 22.0 innings. Citelli held opposing Big 12 hitters to the fourth-lowest average in the league (.186) with the fourth-best ERA in league play (2.89). The righty finished the year with a 3.24 ERA, a 4-2 record and struck out 52 over 41.0 innings of work.

Woodward made 10 appearances for the Cougars, with one start, a 4.2 inning 10-strikeout appearance where he spun 4.1 perfect innings. The start against Texas was Woodward's last for the Cougars in 2024. The righty finished the season with a 5.40 ERA over 23.1 innings with 36 strikeouts against 97 batters faced while walking just four hitters. In his final two outings for Houston, Woodward struck out 15 hitters in 7.2 innings while only allowing two earned runs with just one walk against Texas Tech and Texas.

For the second time in the last three years, a trio of Houston pitchers were drafted in the same draft, joining Ben Sears, Logan Clayton and Jaycob Deese in 2021.

In total, 44 Cougars have been drafted under head coach Todd Whitting's tutelage with 11 in the last five years.