By Michael Sudhalter
At 23, Dallas native Ryan Prager has enjoyed some spectacular baseball milestones. He pitched for Texas A&M in the College World Series championship series and was drafted by Major League Baseball twice.
The standout southpaw said being named to Team Israel for the World Baseball Classic ranks among those career highlights.
“It’s up there,” Prager said during a phone interview from Cleveland Guardians spring training in Goodyear, Arizona. “Playing baseball has given me so many cool experiences, and this is one of them. There’s the family element to it, because I am representing my family, our background and something I grew up on. To actually do it is unbelievable. Everything I’ve heard about the WBC has been good.”
Team Israel is part of Pool D, which also includes the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The games will be played March 6–11 at LoanDepot park, home of the Miami Marlins.
Prager, the Hillcrest High School Class of 2021 valedictorian, graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M last May and was selected by the Cleveland Guardians in the ninth round of the 2025 MLB Draft.
He began his professional career last summer, pitching in two games for the short-season Class A Lynchburg Hillcats of the Carolina League. He struck out seven batters and walked three.
Competing in the WBC will mean Prager will miss at least a week of spring training, but he received the Guardians’ blessing to compete.
Team Israel is managed by former major leaguer Brad Ausmus, who is now the bench coach for the New York Yankees. Some of Team Israel’s players competed in the 2023 WBC. Prager does not personally know any of his teammates.
“I’m excited to get out there, meet them and play baseball together,” Prager said.
Prager grew up attending Temple Emanu-El, where he became a bar mitzvah in 2015. His parents are Cori and Howard Prager.
Baseball runs in the family. His father, Howard Prager, played at UT Arlington and was drafted by the Houston Astros in 1989. He spent six seasons in the Astros and Cardinals organizations, reaching Triple-A with St. Louis before retiring in 1995. He was inducted into UT Arlington’s Athletic Hall of Honor in 1999.
Ryan competed in the Maccabi Games three times as a teenager — in St. Louis, Birmingham and Orange County. He said it was something of a precursor to representing Israel on the international stage.
He chose Texas A&M and had a stellar career with the Aggies, competing in two College World Series, including the 2024 CWS, where A&M placed second. He earned second-team All-Big 12 honors as the Aggies’ ace pitcher in 2024 and was widely projected to turn professional that summer. However, he chose Texas A&M over the Los Angeles Angels, who selected him in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft.
The Aggies’ 2025 season did not live up to the program’s lofty expectations, but Prager had no regrets.
“It was the best four years of my life,” Prager said. “We got to accomplish so much, and there were incredible friendships that were made.”
Prager does not know where he will begin the 2026 season within the Guardians organization.
“It’s fun, it’s exciting and I’m getting to live out a childhood dream,” Prager said.
