Former Arizona pitcher Garrett Irvin signs with Athletics

#Gary is getting a shot to play professional baseball.

Former Arizona pitcher Garrett Irvin has signed a free-agent deal with the Oakland Athletics, the same team that drafted his catcher Daniel Susac in the first round last week. Irvin was not selected in the 2022 MLB Draft, thus making him eligible to sign with any team.

The left-hander went 15-8 in his UA career, starting 38 games in which the Wildcats went 26-12 with him on the mound. As a senior in 2022 he was 5-4 with a 3.38 ERA, while in 2021 he threw a pair of complete games during Arizona’s run to the College World Series.

After both the 4-1 win over Washington and 4-0 shutout of UC Santa Barbara in the NCAA regionals, then UA coach Jay Johnson tweeted out #Gary along with a postgame photo of the team. That hashtag took off, with every time Irvin started this past season being referred to as #Gary Day.

Irvin is the first undrafted player from the 2022 team to sign a pro contract. Arizona has two drafted players that haven’t signed (the deadline is Monday) in outfielder Tanner O’Tremba (15^th round, San Francisco Giants) and incoming prep shortstop Demetrio Crisantes (7^th round, Arizona Diamondbacks).