IOWA CITY — Following a strong debut season in Iowa baseball’s weekend rotation, Aaron Savary has cashed in that success for a solid MLB Draft landing spot.
The Hawkeyes right-hander and former Wahlert Catholic standout came off the board on the second day of the MLB Draft (July 13-14), going in the 13th round to the Cleveland Guardians at No. 402 overall. The expectation is the 6-foot-3 junior will forgo his final collegiate season and sign professionally. Perfect Game pegged Savary as the No. 395 draft prospect.
After a sophomore campaign that offered promise as Savary established traction in the bullpen, the 2025 season was a springboard toward more. The right-hander was Iowa’s Saturday starter from the opening series, going 7-2 with a 4.37 ERA across 15 starts. He struck out 82 while walking 33 in 80 1/3 innings en route to a first-team all-Big Ten selection.
That season coming on the heels of a Cape Cod All-Star selection last summer had Savary entering more serious pro conversations as the MLB Draft neared. With no remaining negotiating leverage should Savary return for his senior year and sign in the 2026 MLB Draft, he’ll take the payday Cleveland is offering and begin his next baseball chapter.
“Part of what makes him cook is his confident, high-level competitiveness,” PrepBaseballReport.com’s David Seifert wrote after watching Savary start against Big Ten regular-season champion Oregon on May 16.
“… He’s a very good college baseball pitcher, but he lacks a pitch that the draft ‘pays’ for. Both his sweeper and changeup are high-quality pitches, but his heater is light. It has averaged just 88.7 mph this season with a 39th percentile whiff of 15.6%. His sweeper grades the highest with a 94th percentile in-zone whiff rate of 33.3%.”
Savary was one of four Iowa pitchers selected in this year’s draft, joining Cade Obermueller (2nd round, Philadelphia Phillies), Daniel Wright (10th round, Chicago White Sox) and Anthony Watts (14th round, St. Louis Cardinals).
Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Cleveland Guardians select Iowa baseball’s Aaron Savary in 13th round of MLB Draft
Reporting by Dargan Southard, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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