A Houston native, Rice baseball hurler Parker Smith has been selected in the fourth round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros.
Parker Smith won’t have to travel to continue his baseball journey. The Rice baseball staff ace was selected in the fourth round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros on Monday. He became the highest Owl drafted since Trei Cruz went in the third round to the Detroit Tigers in 2020 and a fifth top-five round selection for the program in the past six years.
Smith paced the Owls on the mound for each of the last two seasons, making 32 consecutive starts over that time. Smith was an All-Conference selection in Conference USA in 2023. He followed that up by finishing in the top 10 in the American in strikeouts () and ERA this past season.
Smith is the 13th Rice player drafted by the Astros. Garrett Gayle was the most recent South Main to Crawford Street selection, a 12th-round pick by the Astros in 2012.
Rice Baseball MLB Draft selections (last 10 years)
| Player | Draft Year | Team | Round |
| Parker Smith | 2024 | Astros | 4 |
| Justin Long | 2023 | Braves | 7 |
| Hayden Durke | 2023 | Diamondbacks | 13 |
| Matthew Linskey | 2023 | Diamondbacks | 16 |
| Roel Garcia | 2022 | Rays | 14 |
| Trei Cruz | 2020 | Tigers | 3 |
| Matt Canterino | 2019 | Twins | 2 |
| Evan Kravetz | 2019 | Reds | 5 |
| Garrett Gayle | 2019 | Astros | 12 |
| Roel Garcia | 2019 | Blue Jays | 27 |
| Trei Cruz | 2019 | Nationals | 37 |
| Addison Moss | 2019 | Rays | 37 |
| Ford Proctor | 2018 | Rays | 3 |
| Ricky Salinas | 2018 | Reds | 25 |
| Cody Staab | 2018 | Marines | 30 |
| Glenn Otto | 2017 | Yankees | 5 |
| Dane Myers | 2017 | Tigers | 6 |
| Tristan Gray | 2017 | Pirates | 13 |
| Jon Duplantier | 2016 | Diamondbacks | 3 |
| Blake Fox | 2016 | Brewers | 10 |
| Jordan Stephens | 2015 | White Sox | 5 |
| Leon Byrd | 2015 | Rangers | 10 |
| Kevin McCanna | 2015 | Astros | 13 |
| Austin Orewiler | 2015 | Reds | 14 |
| Matt Ditman | 2015 | Roayls | 16 |
| John Clay Reeves | 2015 | Nationals | 20 |
| John Williamson | 2015 | Cubs | 23 |
