Junior RHP Tanner Jones and senior C Jackson Appel are heading to the big leagues after both were taken in the sixth round of the 2024 MLB Draft on Monday. Jones was selected by the Kansas City Royals with the 167th pick before Appel was taken 169th overall by the Chicago White Sox.
Jones spent just one season in Aggieland after beginning his career with two years at Jacksonville State. With 12 starts this season, he built a 3-1 record and a 6.33 ERA over 48 ⅓ innings. With an opposing batting average of .310, Jones allowed 61 hits with 19 walks and struck out 47 batters.
The Alabama native’s top performance of the season came against No. 6 Vanderbilt on April 13, when he pitched 7 ⅓ scoreless frames with six hits, a walk and five punchouts. Jones went 9-7 with a 4.93 ERA in two seasons with the Gamecocks. He was a top-100 transfer entering last season.
Hailing from a family of Aggies, Appel made the most of his lone season in College Station with a first team All-American nod from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. He spent four seasons at Penn, where he achieved All-Ivy League First Team honors in 2023 and All-Ivy League Second Team distinction in 2022.
In 59 starts, the Houston product finished second on the team with a .331 batting average plus 10 home runs and 41 RBIs. Appel was second with 16 stolen bases on 19 attempts and struck out just 33 times in 236 at-bats. Behind the dish, he caught for an A&M pitching staff with the fourth-best ERA in the country and best among Power 5 teams at 3.86.
Across 98 starts in three full seasons with the Quakers, Appel batted .319 with 11 home runs and 73 RBIs. He reached base at a .405 clip and slugged .489. He did the vast majority of his damage in 2022 and 2023, when he started each of Penn’s 92 games.
