Former Bear Nick Loftin To Make MLB Debut

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Sept. 1, 2023

Former Bear Nick Loftin To Make MLB Debut
Kansas City Royals’ No. 5 prospect to start Friday night against Boston Red Sox
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – Former Baylor baseball infielder Nick Loftin was called up by the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

The Corpus Christi, Texas, native will join the Royals in Kansas City on Friday night to make his major-league debut against the Boston Red Sox. Loftin will serve as the designated hitter and bat eighth.

A Freshman All-American during his time at Baylor, Loftin was selected 32nd overall in the 2020 MLB Draft by Kansas City and has quickly risen through the Royals’ minor league system. In 2021, Loftin played in 90 games at Single-A Quad Cities, hitting .289 with 10 home runs and 57 RBIs before starting the 2022 campaign in Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Loftin was elevated to Triple-A Omaha in August 2022, where he played in 38 games to round out his sophomore pro season with a .280 batting average on the year between the two levels. This year, Loftin has hit .270 with 14 homers and 56 RBIs across 82 appearances with the club’s AAA squad.

When he debuts, Loftin will become the 47th Bear all-time to play in the big leagues and second to debut this season, joining left-hander pitcher Cody Bradford of the Texas Rangers. Two other former Bears currently own spots on MLB 40-man rosters in Shea Langeliers (Oakland Athletics) and Max Muncy (Los Angeles Dodgers).

In 122 career games at Baylor over parts of three seasons, Loftin batted .313 with 14 career home runs and 92 RBIs. He was named the 2020 Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches, D1Baseball and Baseball America, and posted six multi-hit outings before the season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a sophomore in 2019, Loftin led the Bears with 76 hits and fielded at a .944 clip. He was unanimously named to the Big 12’s All-Freshman Team in 2018 after playing in 53 of BU’s 55 games with a .306 batting average.

To stay up to date on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.

BAYLOR BASEBALL IN THE PROS
MLB:
Cody Bradford – Texas Rangers
Shea Langeliers – Oakland Athletics
Nick Loftin – Kansas City Royals
Max Muncy – Los Angeles Dodgers

Triple-A:
Josh Bissonette – Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Daniel Castano – Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Miami Marlins)
Davis Wendzel – Round Rock Express (Texas Rangers)

Double-A:
Andy Thomas – Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco Giants)

High-A:
Kyle Hill – Everett AquaSox (Seattle Mariners)
Jared McKenzie – Wilmington Blue Rocks (Washington Nationals)
MacKenzie Mueller – Vancouver Canadians (Toronto Blue Jays)
Jack Pineda – Quad Cities River Bandits (Kansas City Royals)

Single-A:
Kyle Nevin – Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Los Angeles Dodgers)

-BaylorBears.com-


__________________________________

Max Calderone | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (BSB, FB, EQ)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-265-1639

[signature_3494952557]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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