Drury Named Pitcher of the Week
July 21, 2025 - American Association (AA)
Sioux City Explorers News Release
Sioux City Explorers pitcher Austin Drury
(Sioux City Explorers, Credit: Tim Tushla)
SIOUX CITY, Iowa - On Monday, the American Association named Sioux City Explorers left-hander Austin Drury the Carbliss Pitcher of the Week for the week ending July 20. Drury earned the honor after tossing nine innings of shutout baseball Friday night, July 18 against the Sioux Falls Canaries. Sioux City has claimed the award in back-to-back weeks after Jared Wetherbee earned the honor for the week ending July 13.
Drury held the Canaries' vaunted offense to just three hits as the two teams were scoreless after nine innings. Drury would add seven strikeouts while walking two batters. The lefty retired 12 straight batters from the fifth inning until the top of the ninth. After giving up a leadoff single in the top of the ninth, Drury retired the next three batters to hold Sioux Falls scoreless on the evening. Sioux City would walk off winners in the 10th 1-0 to take game one of a crucial three-game series against their I-29 rivals. The Explorers would go on to take the series two games to one and hold the American Association's top record at 42-23 going into the league's all-star break.
Drury was instrumental in a huge doubleheader sweep of Cleburne on July 13. He tossed seven scoreless innings in Texas, yielding four hits and striking out six. Over his last three starts, he has allowed two earned runs in 21 innings. For the season Drury is 5-1 with a 3.07 ERA in 82 innings. The X's are 8-4 when Drury takes the mound, and he has thrown eight quality starts this season as part of the league's leading pitching staff that holds a 3.61 ERA. Drury is second in the American Association in innings pitched, ninth in strikeouts and his ERA is the eighth lowest in the circuit.
Austin Drury is in his third season with Sioux City and is 14-11 in his career for the Explorers with a 4.00 ERA. He was named 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. 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.
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 college career tied for second in the program in wins with 16 and with a 3.94 ERA, pitching 214.2 innings with 167 strikeouts in 40 appearances.
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. He is the third X's pitcher to win the award on the season, following Wetherbee last week and Kyle Marman who was named the Pitcher of The Week after the first week of the season.
The Explorers are off for the American Association All-Star break Monday, July 21 through Wednesday, July 23. The club will return to action on Thursday night, July 24 with game one of a four-game series against the Gary SouthShore RailCats at the Steelyard in Gary, Indiana. The first pitch is set for 7:45 p.m. The game will air on radio on KSCJ and can be seen on video stream at AABASEBALL.TV. The club returns home Tuesday night July 29 for a three-game series against the Kansas City Monarchs. Tickets for any Explorers game can be purchased online at XSBaseball.com, in person at the Lewis and Clark Park Box Office or by calling 712-277-WINS. Stay tuned to the Explorers social media channels and the club's website xsbaseball.com for all our news and updates.
Images from this story
 Sioux City Explorers pitcher Austin Drury (Tim Tushla) |
American Association Stories from July 21, 2025
- Drury Named Pitcher of the Week - Sioux City Explorers
- Railroaders Scorching into All-Star Break - Cleburne Railroaders
- Goldeyes Snap Streak with Win over Saltdogs - Winnipeg Goldeyes
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