Deming selected by Houston in 10th round of MLB Draft

SEATTLE — BYU third baseman Austin Deming was selected by the Houston Astros in the 10th round of the 2023 MLB Draft at Lumen Field in Seattle on Monday.

Houston selected the All-American and WCC regular season triple crown winner with the 314th overall pick. Deming becomes the Cougars’ 123rd all-time MLB Draft selection and the sixth to land in Houston. Other BYU players selected by Houston include Colton Shaver (2017), Todd Newman (1987), Gary Cooper (1986), Marc Thomas (1979) and Greg Peterson (1979).

Deming’s selection give BYU five MLB draft picks in the last two seasons, its most over a two-season span since 2012-13. Andrew Pintar, Cy Nielson, Nate Dahle and Cooper McKeehan were each drafted in 2022.

Deming’s 2023 campaign brought on a bevy of postseason honors including Third Team All-American by both Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. The senior third baseman was also named WCC Co-Player of the Year, NCBWA District 8 Player of the Year and ABCA All-West Region.

Deming’s WCC triple crown came as he posted a league-leading .418 batting average, 19 home runs and 68 RBI during the 2023 season.

The Santa Clara, Utah native also led the WCC in nine offensive categories during the 2023 regular season. In addition to batting average, home runs and RBI, he led the league in slugging (.915), total bases (151), hits per game (1.68), RBI per game (1.66), home runs per game (.46) and doubles per game (.56).

Nationally, Deming finished the regular season ranked top-10 in seven offensive categories, including, No. 1 in doubles per game, slugging (2nd), RBI per game (4th), HR per game (6th), batting average (9th), doubles (9th) and hits per game (10th). He was semifinalist for the prestigious Dick Howser Trophy, awarded annually by the NCBWA to the nation’s top college baseball player.

A two-time All-WCC honoree, Deming played in 171 career games at BYU from 2019-23. As a junior in 2022 he was named First Team All-WCC. Over the past two seasons he was named WCC Player of the Week three times and was recognized as national player of the week by four different organizations on April 7 of this season.

In addition to the success on the field, Deming graduated from BYU in April 2023 with a degree in communications, with a journalism emphasis.