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Born: Omaha, Nebraska
Age: 22 (4/01/97)
Height/Weight: 6’3”/210 lbs.
Position: RHP
Bats/Throws: R/R
School: Creighton University (Omaha, Nebraska)
Mitch Ragan lettered three times in baseball, once in football, and once in basketball, making him a multisport star at Millard West High School. In his senior year, he helped lead the Wildcats to a fourth-place finish at the Class A State Baseball Tournament. While a fourth place finish might not mean much to many, for Ragan it was a victory, as the right-hander was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery as a 16-year-old, during his junior year. Pain regularly sidelined him for short periods of time as a freshman and sophomore, but it was always waved off as “little league elbow”. Tearing his UCL completely sometime during the winter of 2014, Ragan rehabbed and was able to get back on the mound during his senior year, but received no college offers as a result of the injury, prompting him to enrolled at Wayne State College in nearby Wayne, Nebraska, where his brother played.
In his freshman year, Ragan appeared in 10 games, starting 9 of them. He posted a 5.80 ERA 49.2 innings for the Wayne State Wildcats, allowing 59 hits, walking 20, and striking out 51. He transferred to Iowa Western Community College in 2017 and posted a 1.69 ERA in 25.1 innings as a Reiver. His performance there attracted recruiters at Creighton University, and the right-hander transferred there in his junior year. Facing Division I talent for the first time in his career, Ragan served as the Blue Jays’ Saturday starter for most of the year and posted a 3.74 ERA in 77.0 innings, allowing 75 hits, walking 36, and striking out 64. Having gone undrafted in the 2018 MLB Draft, he returned to Creighton in his senior year, posting a 4.17 ERA in 99.1 innings, allowing 96 hits, walking 18, and striking out 95.
Ragan has a solid pitching frame, standing 6’3” and weighing 210-pounds. He throws from a high three-quarters arm slot, taking a big stride and using his lower half well. His fastball typically sits in the low-to-mid-90s and gets good plane when thrown low in the zone. The right-hander complements it with a big 12-6 curveball. He works fast and pounds the zone, attacking hitters and rarely falling behind in the count.