Tanner Joseph Witt (born July 11, 2002) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

organization.

Amateur career

Witt grew up in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and attended Episcopal High School in

Bellaire, Texas Bellaire is a city in southwest Harris County, Texas, United States, within the metropolitan area.. Retrieved on January 24, 2010. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city population was 17,202. It is surrounded by the cities of Houston and West Un ...

. He pitched for the United States Under-15 National team in the 2017 COPABE Pan American Championships. Witt was considered an early-round prospect in the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

, but opted to affirm his commitment to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Witt made 28 appearances as a reliever during his freshman season with the Longhorns and went 5–0 with a 3.16 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 57 innings pitched. After the 2021 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

for the Chatham Anglers of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. Witt entered his sophomore season as a starter. He tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow in his second start, requiring him to undergo

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

and miss the remainder of the season. Witt won both of his starts and had a 1.64 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 11 innings pitched. Texas would go on to make the

2022 College World Series The 2022 NCAA Men's College World Series was the final stage of the 2022 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. It was scheduled from June 17–27 at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, but ended on June 26. This marked the 75th edition ...

. Witt missed the beginning of his junior season while recovering from the surgery. Witt was drafted by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in the 18th round of the 2023 MLB draft, but announced on

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the next day that he would be returning to Texas for his senior season.

Professional career

Witt was drafted in the 14th round, with the 413th overall selection, by the

. He signed with the Mets on July 23, 2024.

Personal life

Witt's father,

Kevin Witt Kevin Joseph Witt (born January 5, 1976) is an American former professional baseball player. Witt spent parts of five seasons in the major leagues, appearing with the Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, most oft ...

, played five seasons in the Major Leagues. His mother, Lori, played softball at Texas.

References

External links

Texas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witt, Tanner Living people Baseball players from Houston Baseball pitchers Texas Longhorns baseball players Chatham Anglers players 2002 births