LA Dodgers draft former Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei
DJ Uiagalelei hasn’t played baseball since high school, but that didn’t stop the Los Angeles Dodgers from taking him in the Major League Baseball Draft on Tuesday.
The Dodgers took the former Clemson and current Oregon State quarterback in the 20th and final round of the draft. Uiagalelei is from California. It’s common for teams to take a late-round flier on a player who is a standout in another sport. Russell Wilson, Johnny Manziel and Tom Brady also were drafted coming out of college.
Uiagalelei was a standout baseball player at St. John Bosco High School and his fastball was clocked at 95 mph. Perfect Game ranked him 31st-best prospect in California coming out of high school and he thought about playing baseball when he arrived at Clemson but focused fully on football.
Uiagalelei showed up at a student home run derby at Clemson in February 2022 and hit one out of the park on his sixth swing.
He started all 13 games at quarterback for Clemson in the 2022 season, but coach Dabo Swinney ultimately benched him in favor of Cade Klubnik. He entered the transfer portal in December and landed at Oregon State.
Uiagalelei set career highs across the board this past season, completing 61.9% of his passes for 2,521 yards and 22 touchdowns while adding 545 yards and seven touchdowns as a runner.
Video: Uiagalelei as a pitcher
This story was originally published July 11, 2023 at 5:30 PM.
