Nebraska baseball has a new pair of former stars on their way to the pros: Huskers catcher Josh Caron (Seattle Mariners) and pitcher Brett Sears (Atlanta Braves) were both selected in the first seven rounds of the MLB Draft on Monday.
The duo getting selected gives Nebraska a total of seven draft picks over the past two years and nine total selections over the past four MLB Drafts. Those nine have all been under the direction of Husker head coach Will Bolt, who just wrapped up his fifth season in charge of the program.
Excluding the shortened draft in 2020 due to COVID-19, Nebraska has had at least one draft selection in 30 of the last 31 drafts since 1992.
Below is a roundup of all the Huskers who were drafted in the Bolt Era, plus details on the selections of Caron and Sears.
Nebraska baseball players taken in the MLB Draft during the Bolt Era:
2024: Two
>> C Josh Caron – Seattle Mariners – 4th round
>> RHP Brett Sears – Atlanta Braves – 7th round
2023: Four
>> SS Brice Matthews – Houston Astros – 1st round
>> 2B Max Anderson – Detroit Tigers – 2nd round
>> LHP Emmett Olson – Miami Marlins – 4th round
>> RHP Jace Kaminska – Colorado Rockies – 10th round
2022: None
2021: Three
>> RHP Spencer Schwellenbach – Atlanta Braves – 2nd round
>> LHP Cade Povich – Minnesota Twins – 3rd round
>> RHP Cam Wynne – Philadelphia Phillies – 20th round
2020: None
UDFAs: Four
Additionally, the Huskers have seen four former players sign UDFA deals with MLB organizations during the Bolt Era.
>> 2023: RHP Shay Schanaman (Atlanta Braves)
>> 2021: IF/OF Jaxon Hallmark (Houston Astros) and LHP Jake McSteen (Atlanta Braves)
>> 2020: OF Aaron Palensky (New York Yankees)
Josh Caron to Seattle Mariners (4th round, No. 121 overall pick)
Caron was selected in the 4th round of the MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners on Monday afternoon, becoming the highest overall selection of a Husker catcher since Bill McGuire was picked No. 27 overall by the Mariners in 1985.
Caron, the No. 121 overall pick, is the seventh 4th-round selection in Husker program history.
Caron, a product of Sun, Prairie, Wis., is the 10th Husker to be selected by the Mariners in the MLB Draft. The Nebraska junior was a Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award semifinalist and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament.
He was one of two catchers in the country in 2024 to finish with a batting average of .300 or better, 15-plus HRs and 65 RBI after he tallied a .308 average with 15 doubles, one triple, 16 HRs, 65 RBI and 46 runs scored.
Caron broke the record for most home runs in a single Big Ten Tournament as he launched six bombs to lead the Huskers to their first-ever B1G Tournament title. He passed Purdue's Dan Black, who hit five HRs in the 2008 conference tournament. Caron’s 28 total bases also set a new tournament record, surpassing Ohio State’s Steve Carvati’s 26 total bases in 2005.
Brett Sears to Atlanta Braves (7th round, No. 221 overall pick)
Sears was selected in the 7th round of the MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves, becoming the fourth 7th-round selection in Husker history.
Sears, the No. 221 overall pick, is the fifth Huskers pitcher under Bolt to be drafted in the first 10 rounds, joining Spencer Schwellenbach (2nd, 2021), Cade Povich (3rd, 2021), Emmett Olson (4th, 2023) and Jace Kaminska (10th, 2023). He is also the sixth Husker to be taken in the MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves, where he will be joining Schwellenbach in the Braves organization whenever he gets his career started in the minor leagues.
It seems fitting that Sears was selected in the seventh round after being so closely related to the lucky number "seven" to begin his breakout season in the spring.
Sears – a native of Westphalia, Iowa – entered the 2024 season as a first-time starter for the Huskers. He spent his first two years at Western Illinois, where he pitched 50 combined innings across 11 appearances (10 starts). He transferred to Nebraska ahead of the 2023 season and finished with a 5.29 ERA, 23 strikeouts and four walks across 11 relief appearances.
Those were noticeably improved marks all around after he sported a 12.27 ERA in 7.1 innings as a freshman and 5.91 ERA in 42.2 innings as a sophomore at Western Illinois, where he combined to finish with 31 strikeouts and 28 walks across those two years.
Inserted into the Friday starter role in 2024, however, Sears kick started a dominant campaign with exactly seven strikeouts in each of his first four starts. He sported a 2-0 record with a 1.78 ERA, 28 strikeouts and just two walks in 25.1 innings across those four outings.
After that impressive opening to his senior season, the Husker hurler never slowed down on those strikeout totals or, frankly, any other area related to pitching. He quickly became the Huskers' shutdown ace and a breakout star in 2024.
The right-handed ace was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and a First-Team All-Big Ten selection while posting a 9-1 record with a 2.16 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 104 innings.
Sears earned unanimous Second-Team All-American recognition from D1Baseball, Baseball America, ABCA/Rawlings, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Perfect Game last month. Additionally, he was named a first-team all-region honoree and District 6 Player of the Year, and he was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and National Pitcher of the Year.
Sears ranked among the national leaders in multiple pitching statistics throughout the season, finishing the year ranked fourth in college baseball with a 0.88 WHIP, fifth in ERA (2.16), 19th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.32), 20th in hits allowed/9 inn. (6.23) and 24th in walks allowed/9 inn. (1.64).
After Nebraska’s win against Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament, the senior became the first Nebraska baseball pitcher since at least 1999 to reach a 9-0 record on the mound.
Sears is the first Husker hurler with 100-plus strikeouts in a season since 2008 after compiling 101 punchouts, which is ninth-most in program history. Sears also completed the season tied for eighth in program history with 104 innings pitched in 2024.
He was also named a second-team Academic All-American by College Sports Communicators earlier this month, becoming the first Nebraska baseball player to be an Academic All-American since 2016, and the first Husker to be an All-American and Academic All-American in the same season since Aaron Marsden in 2003.
Five more hoping to hear their name called:
The MLB Draft will conclude today, beginning at 1 p.m. CT, with 300 more players set to hear their names called in Rounds 11-20.
There are four draft-eligible Huskers and another Nebraska native listed on the official MLB Draft Tracker who are hoping to get selected over the final 10 rounds:
>> RHP Drew Christo
>> SS Dylan Carey
>> OF Gabe Swansen
>> 1B Tyler Stone
>> SS Max Petersen, a Lincoln native and Lincoln Southwest High School alum who just wrapped up his redshirt sophomore season at Southeast CC.
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