High School

Bryce Rainer is fifth Harvard-Westlake product drafted in 1st round of MLB Draft

Rainer was selected No. 11 overall to the Detroit Tigers in the 2024 MLB Draft Sunday night.

Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports

Harvard-Westlake's Bryce Rainer was drafted No. 11 overall to the Detroit Tigers in the 2024 MLB Draft.
Harvard-Westlake's Bryce Rainer was drafted No. 11 overall to the Detroit Tigers in the 2024 MLB Draft. / Heston Quan

It was easy to see from the beginning, and now, here we are.

From the moment Bryce Rainer stepped onto the high school diamond as a freshman he was heralded as the nation's top prospect in his class (2024). He was dubbed a lock to be a top MLB Draft pick when the time came. For four years at Harvard-Westlake in Studio City, Calif., Rainer played in front of major league scouts and pitched with a sea of radar guns pointed at him from behind home plate.

It never fazed him.

The dynamic high schooler became Harvard-Westlake's fifth first-round draft pick in school history when he was drafted No. 11 overall to the Detroit Tigers in the 2024 MLB Draft Sunday night. Rainer is likely to sign a draft bonus of more than $5 million.

Rainer joins Pete Crow Armstrong ('20/Cubs), Jack Flaherty ('14/Tigers), Max Fried ('12/Braves) and Lucas Giolito (‘12/Red Sox) as first-round draft picks and current pros out of the nationally-renown program.

(video courtesy: Kiley McDaniel/X)

Despite Rainer's talents as a pitcher, reaching speeds up to 95-97 MPH, he was selected as a shortstop at 6-foot-3, 195 pounds. Rainer helped Harvard-Westlake reach the CIF Southern Section Division 1 final with a batting average of .505 and tallying 49 hits, 22 RBI and four homers which garnered him Mission League MVP and All-CIF honors.

Rainer is the highest selected player from the Mission League since Hunter Greene of Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks in 2017 when Greene was selected No. 2 overall to the Cincinatti Reds.

Analysts during the MLB Draft described Rainer as such: "Rainer is a 6-foot-3, left-hand hitting shortstop with 30 homerun potential - sounds like Corey Seager."

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Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports

TAREK FATTAL, SBLIVE SPORTS

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.

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