EDINBURG – The University of Texas-Pan American Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced on Saturday that senior right-handed pitcher Sam Street has been selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 26^th pick of the 16^th round (491^st overall) of the MLB Draft.
 
Street becomes the 34^th Bronc to ever be selected in the MLB Draft and the third in as many years after the San Francisco Giants drafted right-handed pitcher Dusten Knight with the 26^th pick of the 28^th round (852^nd overall) of last year's draft, and the Houston Astros drafted third baseman Angel Ibanez with the first pick of the 28^th round (849^th overall) of the 2012 MLB Draft.
 
Street is the 18^th Broncs pitcher to ever be selected in the MLB Draft and the second to be selected by the Pirates.
 
Street is looking to become the fifth Bronc to ever make it to the major leagues as a player. Four have done it previously, including George Williams, who played for the Oakland A's from 1995-97 and the San Diego Padres in 2000, catcher Dan Firova, who played for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1981-82 and the Cleveland Indians in 1988, infielder Wayne Tyrone, who played for the Chicago Cubs in 1978, and outfielder Jim Tyrone, who played for the Cubs in 1972, 1974 and 1975 as well as the A's in 1977.
 
A large number of pitchers drafted in the 16^th round of previous MLB Drafts have reached the majors, including three-time All-Star, 1987 World Series MVP and 1988 American League Cy Young award winner Frank Viola, 1989 All-Star and World Series MVP Dave Stewart, 2011 All-Star and current Kansas City Royals starter James Shields, Oil Can Boyd, Steve Stone, current Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell and current Red Sox reliever Andrew Bailey.
 
Street has racked up the honors this season, as he is a member of the Louisville Slugger All-American Second Team, the WAC Pitcher of the Year and College Sports Madness WAC Pitcher of the Year, an All-WAC First Team selection, a four-time WAC Pitcher of the Week and one-time College Sports Madness WAC Player of the Week award honoree, the Madness Preseason WAC Pitcher of the Year and a member of the Madness Preseason All-WAC First Team.
 
Street leads the NCAA in complete games (11). Additionally, he ranks fourth in wins (12), 84^th in games started (15), 42^nd in WHIP (0.997), 46^th in ERA (1.81), 56^th in strikeouts (91), 110^th in the walks allowed per nine innings (1.74), 118^th in hits allowed per nine innings (7.24), and 125^th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.64).
 
Street led the WAC in every major pitching category, including wins, ERA, strikeouts, complete games, WHIP, hits allowed per nine innings, walks allowed per nine innings, opponents batting average (.217), swinging strikeouts (61), looking strikeouts (30), strikeout-to-walk ratio, innings pitched (129.1) and innings per game (8.62). He became the first WAC Pitching Triple Crown winner since 2011, and just the second in the last nine years.
 
Street finished the season tied for the sixth most wins in a single season in program history. He also ranked second in innings pitched and tied for ninth in complete games. For his career, Street is tied for fifth in wins (22) while also ranking ninth in strikeouts (195) and innings pitched (244.2), and 11^th in complete games (19).
 
Street threw 1,276 of his 1,893 pitches (67.41 percent) for strikes this season. That's a higher percentage than all but 12 Major League Baseball starting pitchers who currently qualify for the ERA title (minimum one inning pitched per team game played). The only ones better are Phil Hughes (72.12), David Price (70.14), John Lackey (68.85), Cliff Lee (68.70), Bartolo Colon (68.24), Jordan Zimmermann (67.93), Brandon McCarthy (67.90), Michael Wacha (67.78), Tim Hudson (67.72), Masahiro Tanaka (67.69), Stephen Strasburg (67.43), and Kyle Lohse (67.42). It's also a higher percentage than all but seven Major League Baseball starting pitchers that qualified for the ERA title in 2013. The only ones better were Lee (70.83), Price (68.78), Colon (68.74), Zimmermann (68.44), Hisahi Iwakuma (67.63), Cole Hamels (67.54) and Adam Wainwright (67.48).

Street threw an average of 14.64 pitches per inning, which is lower than all but nine major leaguers this year and better than all but two major leaguers (Iwakuma and Bronson Arroyo) last year.

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