Sam Houston’s Walker Janek Becomes First-Round Pick in 2024 MLB Draft
Press Release from GoBearkats.com
FORT WORTH – Sam Houston junior catcher Walker Janek was selected by the Houston Astros with the No. 28 overall selection of the Major League Baseball Draft on Sunday, becoming the third Bearkat ever selected in the first round of the draft.
Janek joins Colton Cowser in 2021 (Round 1, Pick 5; Baltimore Orioles) and Glenn Wilson in 1980 (Round 1, Pick 18; Detroit Tigers) as first-round selections from Sam Houston. The Kats now have had 70 all-time selections in the MLB Draft, including 26 draftees since 2014.
The native of Portland, Texas, was the first catcher and second player from a non-Power 4 school selected in the draft. He is the first Bearkat selected by the Astros since Richard Johnson in 1985.
Additionally, Sam Houston is the only program of the 21 Division I baseball teams in the State of Texas to have multiple first-round selections in the last four years.
Janek entered the 2024 season on radar as one of the top catchers available for this year’s draft but rocketed up the projections throughout the year after compiling the best collegiate season of his career and entered Sunday projected as a first-round pick by multiple baseball outlets.
Arguably the most decorated player in Bearkat history, Janek won the Buster Posey Award in June as the top catcher in the country and was named a first-team all-American by four of the five consensus media outlets in college baseball. He was also a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy.
He threw out 16 of 31 attempted base stealers on the year on his way to also being named the CUSA Defensive Player of the Year. At the plate, he turned his best year as a Bearkat with a .368/.480/.714 slash line and totaled 17 home runs, 15 doubles, five triples and 58 RBI. In 166 career games a Kat he has racked up 205 hits, including 36 doubles, six home runs, 37 home runs and 156 RBI.
