Bio
Austin Drury returns to Sioux City for his third season with a career record of 9-10 in partner league ball with a 4.38 ERA in 36 starts. He has tossed 199.1 career innings for the Explorers, adding 192 strikeouts with a 1.425 WHIP. Drury has also shined bright in the postseason for the X’s. In three playoff starting nods, Drury is 2-0 in 16.2 innings with 16 punchouts, surrendering three earned runs on 14 hits with a 1.67 ERA.
In 2024 Drury began the season in Mexico; he made six starts for Leon, going 1-4 in 20.1 innings and surrendering 34 hits and 25 earned runs. He would walk 15 and strike out 16 and post a 11.07 ERA. He would make one start for Oaxaca, working in two innings and allowing three earned runs with two strikeouts. The Explorers would add Drury on June 4, 2024, where he would finish 4-5 with a 5.10 ERA. He finished second on the club with 90 innings and tied for second with 16 starts in 2024. He surrendered 51 earned runs on 96 hits with 36 walks and 94 strikeouts. Drury finished the regular season with 1.467 WHIP.
Drury made his first start of 2024 on June 4 at Fargo-Moorhead in a hard-luck 6-5 loss after striking out seven in six innings. He would rebound and pick up a 7-4 win on June 9 at home over Lake Country. The “portsider” worked 5.1 innings with one earned run and another seven strikeouts to strike out 14 in his first 11.1 innings. He would go on to average 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings for the season. Drury recorded his first quality start—six innings of three earned runs or fewer—on July 8 in a tough 3-2 loss at Fargo-Moorhead. He would close out July and set the tone for a strong finish with a six-inning, two-earned-run performance in a win on the 25th on the road at Cleburne. Drury allowed a total of 16 runs over his last 51 innings in the last eight games to finish with a 2.82 ERA with 49 strikeouts in that span. The final outing in the last eight games included a three-hit performance where he gave up one earned run in a no decision in the X’s 2-1 setback during game one of the American Association Division playoff series at Fargo-Moorhead on September 4.
Drury flashed some leather as a defensive player and even showed prowess at the plate in 2024 during his only opportunity to appear as a position player in the lineup. The Explorers, shorthanded on their first trip to Winnipeg, were forced to use both Drury and Jared Wetherbee as position players and in the batting order in the three-game weekend series. Drury would go 1-5, earning his only professional hit and RBI on June 14 in an 8-7 loss at Blue Cross Park. Drury also played right field and made all three putouts in three attempts for Sioux City. His five at bats are his only at bats in the pro ranks.
Drury would also be added to the Team USA roster for the 2024 Premier 12 tournament where the Americans finished third in the competition. He made two relief appearances for Team USA. He came in for the first time on November 11 against Venezuela with the US trailing 5-3 in the eighth inning. Drury faced Major League veterans Alexi Amarista, Carlos Perez and Ramon Flores and set them all down in order. Drury then faced Japan on November 21 in Tokyo in his second outing, and he allowed a single and hit a batter with one inherited runner scoring after he was relieved with one out.
The 2023 season was much like the 2024 campaign for Drury. The native of Tampa once again was fantastic down the stretch for the Explorers, winning four straight starts to close out the season. That four-game stretch included a pair of solid outings in the playoffs. He finished the regular season with back-to-back quality starts on August 24 and 30, giving up just one earned run in 12 innings with 12 strikeouts. In the postseason he picked up two more wins, beating the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks on September 6 in Fargo—going five innings and allowing one earned run on nine hits—then beating the Kansas City Monarchs on September 11—giving up one earned run on two hits over 5.2 innings. Drury added another 12 strikeouts in the postseason. He finished strong overall in 2023 for Sioux City, allowing just seven earned runs over his final seven starts and totaling 39.1 innings with a 1.61 ERA during that stretch. Drury would go 5-5 overall during the regular season in 20 starts with a 3.78 ERA. He struck out 98 batters while walking 53 in 109.1 innings during the season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Drury in the 34th round of the 2018 draft after three seasons at the University of North Florida, where he would go on to pitch in the Dodgers organization from 2018-22. He spent the entire 2022 season at AA Tulsa in the Texas League, tossing 37.1 innings with a 4.34 ERA with 30 strikeouts and a 2.089 WHIP. Drury would begin the 2021 season at High-A Great Lakes before his June promotion to AA Tulsa. While at Tulsa, he had a 4.53 ERA with 49 strikeouts over 43.2 innings. While at High-A Great Lakes, he posted a 3.00 ERA and 1.256 WHIP over 24.0 innings. Drury finished the season 6-2 overall with a 3.99 ERA in 67.2 innings combined for the season.
The 2020 season would be cancelled, but 2019 saw Drury split time at two levels of the Dodgers organization, both at the A level. He would be named to the Midwest League All-Star Team after going 1-1 with two saves in 26.1 relief innings at Great Lakes. He struck out 32 with a 2.39 ERA, yielding just seven earned runs before a promotion to High-A Rancho Cucamonga. Drury would earn one save and posted a 1-2 record in 24 games over 37.2 innings with a 3.58 ERA and 38 strikeouts on the season. He made his professional debut in 2018 with Odgen in the Pioneer League, surrendering three earned runs on 10 hits over 12 innings with a 1-0 record and a 2.25 ERA before a late July promotion to Great Lakes. Drury added another 17.2 innings in the Midwest League with a 3-1 record with one save and just one earned run allowed in his second rookie stop. He struck out 18 batters while giving up just eight hits with a 0.51 ERA. For the season Drury combined to pitch in 29.2 innings with a 1.21 ERA between rookie ball and Class-A after converting to a full-time reliever.
In his three seasons at the University of North Florida Drury pitched almost exclusively as a starter, starting 37 games of the 40 games that he appeared in for the Ospreys. He finished his career tied for second in the program in wins with 16. Drury finished his career with a 16-7 with a 3.94 ERA, pitching 214.2 innings with 167 strikeouts in 40 appearances. At the end of his 2016 freshman season for UNF, Drury was named to the Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American Team.
Drury would make 13 starts for UNF while tying for second on the team in wins with a 4-4 record in 2018. He tossed 68.2 innings with a 4.85 ERA in his junior season in Jacksonville. The lefty struck out 58 batters with a season-high six, coming on three different occasions during the year. Drury would throw a career high nine-inning complete game in a 7-5 win over the University of Memphis.
In 2017 Drury would start 12 games for UNF and tie for second on the team once again in wins with a 6-2 record, pitching in 74,1 innings with a 3.03 ERA. He finished second on the team with 61 strikeouts and held opposing hitters to a .231 batting average.
Drury made a huge impression in his first college season, a forecast of his bright future ahead. He earned all-Freshman All-American honors and was named to the Atlantic Sun Conference All-Freshman team, logging 72.1 innings (second most of the team) and earning a spot in the weekend rotation. Drury sported a 4.02 ERA with 48 strikeouts, and his 6-1 record tied for most on the team. He went 5-1 in conference play, and his six wins tied for the most of any Freshman in UNF history. The Tampa native then would pitch eight innings of two-hit ball with a season-high eight strikeouts in an elimination game in the ASUN-Tournament against host Lipscomb on May 27, 2016. That effort would get Drury named to the ASUN-All Tournament team. In five of his last six starts, Drury would allow two runs or fewer while combining for two team shutouts. In only his second career start and fifth collegiate appearance, he held the No. 1 Florida Gators to two runs and left with the game tied after five innings.
Drury played high school ball at Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, Florida where he was a four-year member of the baseball team. Drury was named First Team All-Pasco County in high school following his 2015 senior season. He was listed on the 2015 Perfect Game Preseason Florida All-Region Second Team while leading the team as the top pitcher and hitter in his final season at Wiregrass Ranch. Drury would hit .380 with three home runs and 14 stolen bases his senior season while holding down the number one starter role on the mound with a 1.83 ERA and 63 strikeouts. The 2014 Wiregrass Ranch team won their district in his junior season.
Austin William Drury, born in Land O’Lakes, Florida, will turn 28 on August 13. His uncle Ronald Kelly played in the Baltimore organization, and his grandfather, Roy Kelly, was a professional player in class B and C in the mid 1950’s.