Pair of Bruins Selected on Day Two of 2024 MLB Draft
LOS ANGELES – Junior right-handed pitcher Luke Jewett and junior infielder Duce Gourson of the UCLA baseball team were both selected Monday on the second day of the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft.
Jewett was the first Bruin off the board, going in the eighth round (No. 228 overall) to the Colorado Rockies. Gourson followed shortly thereafter, serving as the ninth-round selection (No. 264 overall) of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
With Monday’s selections, UCLA has now had 128 student-athletes picked in the MLB Draft in 20 years under head coach John Savage. That figure includes 52 players selected inside the top 10 rounds.
Jewett was a mainstay on the UCLA pitching staff over his three seasons in Westwood, serving as a pivotal back-end piece of the bullpen as a freshman and sophomore before ascending to the Friday night role as a junior in 2024. The Ladera Ranch, Calif. native led the Pac-12 Conference with 35 appearances as a freshman in 2022, made it to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List as the Bruins’ closer in 2023, and then posted a 4.35 ERA atop the Bruins’ rotation this past season. Jewett had 4.29 career ERA at UCLA over 63 appearances.
Gourson was the Bruins’ most consistent and arguably most productive hitter over the last three seasons, crafting a .300/.435/.482 slash line with 21 home runs and 119 RBIs over 168 career games as UCLA’s primary second baseman. He was a Freshman All-American in 2022 after posting a .439 OBP and collecting a freshman program record 23 doubles, and then slashed .319/.438/.515 as a sophomore en route to All-Pac-12 honors. The San Diego hit a solid .288 as a junior, and led the Bruins in OBP (.427) and extra-base hits (23) while garnering an All-Pac-12 honorable mention. He’s the first UCLA player selected in the draft by Pittsburgh since infielder Kevin Kramer went in the second round in 2015.
The 2024 MLB Draft concludes on Tuesday with rounds 11-20. Selections begin at 11 a.m. PT.
