Maxwel Scott Rajcic (born August 3, 2001) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2026.

Amateur career

Rajcic attended Lutheran High School of Orange County in Orange, California. As a junior in 2019, he had a 8–1 win-loss record with a 0.55 earned run average (ERA) and 78 strikeouts over 63+1⁄3 innings pitched.[1] That summer, he played in the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game, the High School All-Star Game at Progressive Field, and for the 18U USA Baseball team.[2][3][4] During his senior season in 2020, he gave up no runs and struck out 32 batters over 22+2⁄3 innings before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]

Rajcic was considered a top prospect for the shortened 2020 Major League Baseball draft but went unselected and enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to play college baseball.[6] As a freshman for the UCLA Bruins in 2021, Rajcic served as the Bruins' closer, going 2–1 with a 1.65 ERA and 36 strikeouts over 32+2⁄3 innings.[7] Over the summer of 2021, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[8][9] As a sophomore in 2022, he moved into the starting rotation and went 8–5 with a 3.28 ERA and 92 strikeouts over 85 innings and 15 starts.[10]

Professional career

After the 2022 collegiate season, Rajcic was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the sixth round with the 187th overall pick in the 2022 Major League Baseball draft.[11] He signed with the Cardinals for $600,000.[12]

Rajcic made his professional debut in 2023 with the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Single-A Florida State League.[13] In June, he was promoted to the Peoria Chiefs of the High-A Midwest League.[14] In mid-September, he was promoted to the Springfield Cardinals of the Double-A Texas League.[15] Over 23 starts between the three teams, Rajcic went 9–6 with a 2.48 ERA and 123 strikeouts over 123+1⁄3 innings.[15] He was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Year Award for his performance with Palm Beach.[16] Rajcic returned to Springfield for the 2024 season.[17] Over 24 starts, he posted a 10–11 record and 4.33 ERA with 131 strikeouts over 131 innings.[18] Rajcic was assigned to Springfield to open the 2025 season and was promoted to the Memphis Redbirds of the Triple-A International League in July.[19] He started a total of 27 games during the season and went 3–7 with a 4.96 ERA and 100 strikeouts over 118 innings.[20]

Rajcic was assigned to Memphis to open the 2026 season and began pitching out of the bullpen.[21] Across 40+2⁄3 innings with Memphis to begin the season, he had a 4–2 record, a 2.88 ERA and 46 strikeouts. On June 18, the Cardinals promoted him to the major leagues for the first time.[22] He made his MLB that night in relief against the Kansas City Royals, pitching two innings in which he gave up one run, two hits, and recorded his first MLB strikeout against Tyler Tolbert.[23] On July 7, Rajcic was placed on the 60-day injured list due to an unspecified right elbow injury.[24]

References

  1. ↑ "Orange County baseball pitcher of the year: Max Rajcic, Orange Lutheran". Orange County Register. June 5, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  2. ↑ Collazo, Carlos (August 30, 2019). "Team USA Takes Silver At 2019 WBSC U-18 World Cup". www.baseballamerica.com. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  3. ↑ "All-OC baseball players Rajcic, Tolentino in High School All-Star Game". Orange County Register. July 5, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Watch top Draft prospects in UA All-America Game". MLB.com. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Season Interrupted: SoCal's top high school pitcher has Dodgers dreams". Los Angeles Times. April 17, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  6. ↑ "A few Orange County baseball players could be selected in this year's shorter MLB draft". Orange County Register. June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  7. ↑ Healy, Joe (November 12, 2021). "UCLA Baseball: Five Questions to Answering Entering 2022". www.baseballamerica.com. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  8. ↑ "#30 Max Rajcic". pointstreak.com. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  9. ↑ Pontes, Geoff (February 16, 2022). "Future Four: Highly Decorated Prepsters Who Chose Collegiate Route (Vol. 5)". www.baseballamerica.com. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Cardinals select 8 players in day two of 2022 MLB Draft". MLB.com (Press release). July 19, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  11. ↑ "MLB Draft: Two more Orange Lutheran players taken on Day 2". Los Angeles Times. July 18, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  12. ↑ Law, Keith (August 2022). "St. Louis Cardinals 2022 MLB Draft hub: Picks, bonus pool, slot values". The Athletic. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Palm Beach Cardinals Announce 2023 Opening Day Roster". MiLB.com. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  14. ↑ "OF Victor Scott II has been transferred from Peoria (A+) to Springfield (AA). OF Alex Iadisernia, RHP Edwin Nuñez, RHP Max Rajcic & INF R.J. Yeager have been transferred from Palm Beach (A) to Peoria (A+). RHP Inohan Paniagua (A+) will begin a rehab assignment with the FCL Cardinals". Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  15. 1 2 Guerrero, Daniel (September 20, 2023). "Cardinals prospect Tekoah Roby logs four innings, allows two runs: Minor League Report". STLtoday.com. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  16. ↑ Avallone, Michael (September 19, 2023). "Here are the 2023 Single-A All-Stars and Award Winners". Minor League Baseball. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Springfield announces 2024 Opening Day roster". MiLB.com. April 4, 2024. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  18. ↑ Guerrero, Daniel (September 14, 2024). "Cardinals prospect Quinn Mathews allows 4 runs in 2 2/3 innings: Minor League Report". STLtoday.com. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
  19. ↑ https://www.ozarksfirst.com/sports/springfield-resumes-season-rajcic-promoted-to-memphis/
  20. ↑ "Max Rajcic Stats, Age, Position, Height, Weight, Fantasy & News". MiLB.com. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  21. ↑ Guerrero, Daniel (March 9, 2026). "As Max Rajcic sees velo tick up, club sees how it looks in different role: Cardinals Extra". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  22. ↑ Goold, Derrick (June 18, 2026). "Prospect Max Rajcic, as in 'magic,' materializes in majors as Cardinals revise bullpen". STLtoday.com. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  23. ↑ McNeill, Dylan. "Former UCLA Bruin reliever makes his MLB debut with the Cardinals". UCLA Wire. Retrieved June 19, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Cardinals Select Bruce Zimmermann, Place Max Rajcic On 60-Day IL". mlbtraderumors.com. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Rajcic