AUBURN, Ala. – Senior catcher Nate LaRue has agreed to sign as an undrafted free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays.
LaRue becomes the fourth member of the 2023 Tigers to earn an opportunity to move on to professional baseball after Cole Foster, Bryson Ware and Chase Isbell were drafted earlier this week.
A four-year member of the program, LaRue played in 130 games and made 100 starts in his Auburn career. One hundred five of his appearances and 87 of his starts came in the last two seasons.
LaRue was inserted into the starting lineup on a regular basis at the beginning of Southeastern Conference play a year ago and played a major role in leading Auburn to its second College World Series in the last three postseasons. He entered the 2023 season on the Buster Posey Award watch list.
While hitting 10 doubles and 11 home runs the last two seasons, LaRue also ranked third in the league in each of the last two years with a total of 21 runners caught stealing while leading the way with six pickoffs in 2023.
LaRue also made six appearances on the mound and struck out five batters in 6.1 innings in his Auburn career.
A highly-touted recruit from Mobile, Alabama, LaRue was previously drafted by the Blue Jays in the 25th round of the 2019 MLB Draft but elected to enroll at Auburn.