Ethan Kleinschmit Drafted by Miami Marlins

The Major League Baseball draft is currently underway, and midway through the second round Oregon State lost its first player to the majors, with starting pitcher taken by the Miami Marlins with the 52nd overall pick in the draft.

After spending one season at Linn Benton Communty College, Kleinschmit became a full time starter for Oregon State in 2025 and 2026. Kleinschmit helped the Beavers return to Omaha and the College World Series for the first time in the Mitch Canham era, and earned the pitcher ABCA All-Region First and ABCA All-America Third Team honors.

Kleinschmit improved in 2026, finishing the year with a 9-2 record and a 3.74 ERA. After the injury to Dax Whitney, Kleinschmit became the Beavers Friday starter, and excelled despite the tough circumstances. In his final start for Oregon State Kleinschmit struck out nine Washington State batters in the opening game of the Eugene Regional.

Draft prognosticators had pegged Kleinschmit as a late day one or day two pick. MLB.com had him ranked as the 69th best prospect this year, citing his potential for growth once he's part of a major league conditioning program. ESPN was higher on the pitcher, putting him at 46th overall.

Ultimately, the Marlins split the difference between the two predicitons, grabbing Kleinschmit with the twelfth pick in the second round. It was Miami's second pick in the draft, after the Marlins grabbed shortstop Jacob Lombard out of Gulliver Prep High School in Florida with the 14th pick in the first round.

There's a few more Beavers who may hear their name called today. Another starting pitcher, Eric Segura, is the most likely to go next. MLB has him ranked as the 196th overall prospect, so he'll likely not hear his name called Saturday, but it should be sometime this weekend.

Kleinschmit getting drafted, and Segura's likely following him later, underscores one of the biggest challenges the Beavers will face this off season, the complete departure of their starting rotation. Dax Whitney is recovering from UCL surgery, and while he could potentially return for the Beavers in 2027, he'll likely choose to focus on next year's MLB Draft, where he's expected to be a top pick.

Kleinschmit will be entering the Marlins system, and Segura will end up somewhere. Trey Morris, who picked up more starting jobs after Whitney's injury, left for Florida along with pitching coach Rich Dorman. That leaves Connor Mendez as the Beavers most experienced returning starter.

Oregon State's been good at getting top pitching talent to come to Corvallis, we'll see if they can keep that up with a new pitching assistant.

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