Oklahoma State second baseman Roc Riggio selected by New York Yankees in 2023 MLB Draft

Following an impressive two seasons at Oklahoma State, second baseman Roc Riggio can begin his MLB career if he chooses. The New York Yankees selected Riggio with the No. 129 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2023 MLB Draft.

Riggio will now have until Aug. 1 to sign a contract or decide to return to Stillwater for another season.

Riggio was the Cowboys leading hitter this past season with 18 home runs, 75 hits and 61 RBIs. He had a batting average of .335 and a slugging percentage of .679 on his way to earning first team All-Big 12 and third team All-American honors according to Collegiate Baseball.

The year before as a true freshman, Riggio had 62 hits and 11 home runs with a batting average of .295. He was named to both the Big 12 All-Freshman team and first team Freshman All-American according to D1 Baseball.

This isn’t the first time Riggio has been selected in the MLB Draft, as the Milwaukee Brewers took him in the 11th round out of high school. He has clearly grown a lot since then in the past two years and will hope to show that off if he decides to go pro.

More on the 2023 MLB Draft

The 2023 Major League Baseball Draft will begin during All-Star week, with the first two rounds getting underway at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 9. Rounds 3-10 will then begin at 2 p.m. ET on Monday, July 10, with rounds 11-20 starting at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 11.

This year’s MLB Draft is a historic one, as a draft lottery was used to determine the order for the first time. The Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics each had a 16.5% chance to receive the No. 1 overall pick. Ultimately, Pittsburgh won the right to have the first selection, with Washington finishing right behind them at No. 2. Oakland, however, fell all the way down to No. 6 overall.

While the MLB Draft is always unpredictable, the consensus is that this year’s top prospects both hail from LSU, who won the 2023 College World Series. Pitcher Paul Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews headline this year’s class, which is considered a deep one.

Within the first ten rounds of the draft, each slot is assigned a certain value. Each team has a bonus pool that they are able to spend on these picks, and players will sign at, above or below their assigned slot value.

In rounds 11-20, there is no assigned slot value and MLB teams are free to spend up to $150,000 to sign their picks from the second half of the draft. If they exceed the $150,000 mark, that added amount will be deducted from their bonus pool.

Following the final day of the 2023 MLB Draft, selected players will have until August 1 to sign a contract.