WA's Drew Rasmussen named to second straight MLB All-Star Game

The MLB All-Star Game takes place Tuesday night, and while many locals will be cheering on their favorite Seattle Mariners, there's a local pitcher for the Rays who Washingtonians should be on the lookout for.

Born in Puyallup and raised in Spokane, Drew Rasmussen has put in the hard work to become a Major League Baseball player, grinding through three major elbow surgeries, solidifying his name in Oregon State Baseball history and now a two-time MLB all-star. 

Keep reading to learn more about his MLB and early baseball career in Washington state.

Who is Drew Rasmussen?

What we know:

Born in Puyallup, raised in Spokane and a Mt. Spokane High School standout, Rasmussen now enters his sixth major league season. Rasmussen attended Oregon State University, where he became the first and only player in program history to throw a perfect game. He and his wife, Stevie, have two children, a son and a daughter, per MLB.

Major League Baseball career

Rasmussen’s MLB path has seen its fair share of adversity. Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2018, he made his major league debut with the club in 2020 before the Rays acquired him in a May 2021 trade, according to MLB. He has pitched for Tampa Bay ever since.

The Tampa Bay Rays right-hander missed his first year in the league after his second Tommy John surgery, then opted for an internal brace procedure in 2023 rather than risk a third. Since returning to the rotation, he’s been one of the most reliable arms in baseball — his ERA since 2021 ranks second in the majors among pitchers with at least 500 innings, trailing only Shohei Ohtani.

In just his first full season in the majors, he was named AL Pitcher of the Month for August, where he pitched a near perfect game and a career-high strikeout total – making him just the eighth pitcher since Félix Hernández's 2012 perfect game to work at least eight perfect/no-hit innings.

This season, Rasmussen earned his second straight AL Pitcher of the Month honor, leading all American League pitchers with a 0.82 ERA, a .142 opponents’ batting average and a 0.61 WHIP, according to MLB.com. That performance also secured his second consecutive All-Star selection.

Oregon State's first perfect game

The backstory:

As a freshman at Oregon State in 2015, Rasmussen threw the first perfect game in program history, striking out 10 batters in a 3-0 win over rival Washington State, according to OSU Athletics. The game was just the fourth perfect game in Pac-12 history and the first since Washington State’s Joe McIntosh threw one in 1973, per NCAA.com.

Rasmussen retired all 27 batters he faced, recording six flyouts and 11 groundouts along the way. He remains the only Beaver to throw a perfect game, according to Oregon State’s official roster records.

Early high school career

Dig deeper:

Rasmussen starred at Mt. Spokane High School, where he earned Greater Spokane League MVP honors as a senior in 2014, and struck out 115 batters that season, according to OSU Athletics. Academically, he was on the honor roll all four years.

Rasmussen was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 39th round of the 2014 MLB Draft out of high school but chose instead to head to Oregon State, saying at the time it was a program and campus that offered him a strong environment to succeed both athletically and academically.

Fun Fact: Despite throwing with his right hand, he is left-handed for most day-to-day tasks, including writing.

How to watch the All-Star Game

You can watch the game live on FOX 13 Seattle or stream it on FOX One or FOX Sports.

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