By: Jonathan Mayer / Staff Writer
In the 14th round of the 2021 MLB Draft as pitcher Tyler Myrick was selected by the San Francisco Giants making it the 11th straight year a Panther was picked in the draft.
Tyler becomes the 24th player from FIU to be taken since they joined Conference USA in 2014. He is also looking to be the 18th big leaguer trying to make it to the show.
In his freshman year at FIU, Myrick put up durable numbers as a rookie going 6-2 with a team-leading 3.73 ERA while allowing 71 hits, and struck out 57 batters in his first year. These impressive stats earned him the honors of C-USA All-Freshman team.
His sophomore year, saw Myrick be more consistent in his work as he pitched to a 3.86 ERA with a 2-2 record. In this season, working 53.2 innings, allowing 29 hits, and striking out 55 men. His best performance of the season was against FAU as he went 7.2 innings of work and struck out 8 Owl batters.
Myrick then redshirted in his junior year due to Tommy John surgery and at the same time was taken in the 2019 MLB Draft in the 40th round by the Texas Rangers, however he decided to stay in South Florida to continue pitching for FIU to finish his college career.
He then returned from injury in 2020 as he started only four games with a 6.50 ERA and pitched 18 innings, allowing 13 earned runs and striking out 12. His season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his final year as a Panther, Tyler entered as the first man of the rotation and provided many career highs in 2021. He started in 14 games with a record of 7-4 with a 5.43 ERA, pitching 71 innings, with a team-best of 67 strikeouts.
He struck out a career high 13 batters against Miami (OH) on February 26th and pitched a complete game allowing only one run against Middle Tennessee on May 15th. Myrick finished the season ranking sixth with wins in all of Conference USA.
In total, Tyler made 48 appearances wearing the Blue & Gold, going 15-10 with a 4.56 ERA and striking out a total 191 batters. The 191 strikeouts rank 15th all time in FIU history.
The team he is heading to, the San Francisco Giants, currently have a record of 57-32, which is best in Major League Baseball. Their farm system is ranked 11th in MLB according to MLB Pipeline and only has 11 pitchers in their top 30 prospect list.
Tyler was the ninth pitcher taken in the draft already for San Francisco as the team is looking for more arms in their system that lacks pitches, and Myrick is a prime example of someone who is a workhorse that houses quality pitches and high velocity for a MLB organization in 2021.
Myrick had much potential coming to FIU as he helped the Columbia High Tigers in Lake City, Florida find themselves to the district championships in 2015 and 2016. He was also named the Pitcher of the Year for the district in 2015 as a junior.
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