Anson Aroz: From Placer High to the Dodgers Farm System

Anson Aroz: From Placer High to the Dodgers Farm System

Anson Aroz's path to professional baseball hasn't exactly been a straight line. The Auburn, California native went from being one of the top catching prospects in the country at Placer High, to an injury-shortened freshman season at Oregon, to spending much of his college career as a part-time player and, eventually, a breakout season mostly playing left field. Then the Dodgers called his name in the 19th round of the 2025 MLB Draft (I vividly remember yelling to no one when his name was called). A year later, he headed to the Arizona Fall League. Not bad for the 585th pick in the draft.

Aroz is a 5-foot-11 switch-hitting catcher, born October 31, 2002. And while catching has always been a big part of his game, his bat is what has continued to get him noticed.

One of The Best Catchers in the Country at Placer

Before he ever got to Eugene, Aroz was already on the radar. At Placer High in Auburn, he was a four-year letterman, senior captain and one of the top high school catchers in the country. Prep Baseball Report ranked him the No. 9 catcher nationally and the No. 1 catcher in California. Perfect Game had him No. 22 nationally at the position and No. 2 in California.

His high school career was cut short by COVID, which wiped out most of his junior season, but he came back strong as a senior. In 2021, he hit .515 with a .588 OBP and a .727 slugging percentage, finishing with 34 hits, seven doubles, two triples, a home run, 16 RBI and 24 runs.

He was a three-time first-team all-conference selection, earned first-team All-Metro honors and was named a 2021 Optimist All-Star. He was also a familiar face on the showcase circuit, playing in the Area Code Games twice, the 2020 Perfect Game National Showcase and the CCL Showcase Game. Perfect Game named him to its 2021 Preseason All-American team.

In other words, Oregon wasn't taking a flier on some unknown kid. They knew exactly what they were getting.

A Slow Start at Oregon

Things didn't immediately take off in Eugene. An injury limited Aroz to one pinch-hit appearance during the 2022 season and he took a redshirt.

In 2023, he slowly worked his way into the lineup. He played in 17 games, making six starts, and hit .265. His first college hit and RBI came April 12 against San Francisco. Ten days later, in his first career start at Cal, he hit his first college home run, a two-run shot to left.

By May, he was getting opportunities behind the plate, making his first start at catcher against USC. That summer, he played for the Corvallis Knights in the West Coast League.

It was a start, but his real breakout was still coming.

The 2024 Breakout

In 2024, Aroz finally became a regular. He played 45 games and started at DH, first base and all three outfield spots. He hit .281 with six home runs, nine doubles and 25 RBI while posting a .365 OBP.

And there were signs early that something had changed. On March 3 against UC Santa Barbara, he had a career-high four hits. A few days later at Grand Canyon, he reached base five times.

Then came a stretch where he really started to heat up. He homered in back-to-back games at Arizona State and hit .364 in a series win over USC.

He started all three games in left field as Oregon won the Santa Barbara Regional, its second straight regional championship.

Then came the weekend that probably put him on a lot more people's radar.

Texas A&M

In the Super Regional against No. 4 Texas A&M, Aroz went 4-for-8 with two home runs, four RBI and four runs scored. He homered in the first inning of both games. In Game 2, his home run capped a stretch of three straight Oregon batters going deep.

Not exactly a bad way to introduce yourself on the national stage.

2025: His Best Season at Oregon

Aroz saved his best college season for Oregon's first year in the Big Ten. He started all 57 games, mostly in left field, and hit .281/.417/.583. He finished with 17 home runs, 53 RBI and 54 runs, good for a 1.000 OPS and third-team All-Big Ten honors.

Those 17 home runs tied for fifth on Oregon's single-season list. And there were plenty of big moments along the way.

Against Rhode Island, he hit three home runs, drove in seven runs and reached base 11 times in four games, including a walk-off grand slam. Against Columbia, he reached base 13 times during a four-game sweep. At Ohio State, he homered in all three games and posted a 1.703 OPS for the weekend.

At Iowa, he homered during the sweep that clinched Oregon's first Big Ten regular-season championship. In the Big Ten Tournament, he went 6-for-8 with three hits in each game, and he added another home run against Utah Valley in the Eugene Regional.

By the end of his Oregon career, Aroz had played 120 games with 98 starts and hit .279/.389/.518, with 24 home runs, 85 RBI and 84 runs scored. Those 24 home runs tied him for eighth in Oregon program history.

And despite all the attention on his baseball career, he was getting it done in the classroom too. He was a CSC Academic All-District selection in 2025, made the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll in 2023 and 2024, and landed on the Dean's List twice.

Then Came the Dodgers

The Dodgers selected Aroz in the 19th round of the 2025 MLB Draft, 585th overall. He was one of five Oregon players drafted that year.

What's interesting is that the Dodgers selected him as a catcher, even though he had spent most of his junior season playing left field. He became the fifth Oregon player ever drafted by the Dodgers and the sixth Oregon catcher selected in the modern era.

For Aroz, the draft was the realization of something he'd wanted for a long time: the chance to play professional baseball and he didn't have to wait long to get started.

Year One in Pro Baseball

Aroz made his professional debut in 2026 and, despite missing roughly two months with an injury, managed to make his way from Single-A to High-A.

He started the season as one of two catchers on the inaugural roster of the Ontario Tower Buzzers, the Dodgers new Single-A affiliate.

Then, on April 26 against San Jose, he had one of those games that makes you stop and look at the box score. He went 4-for-4 with a double, two hit-by-pitches and four runs scored. He reached base in all six of his plate appearances.

Not long after, he earned a promotion to the High-A Great Lakes Loons.

An injury kept him out from June through August, but he returned for the stretch run and helped the Loons win the Midwest League East second-half title. In the regular-season finale on September 6, Aroz hit a two-run homer that put Great Lakes ahead for good in a 4-2 win over Lake County.

Between Ontario and Great Lakes, Aroz finished his first professional season hitting .256/.395/.391 with a 110 wRC+. The most encouraging number might be that .395 OBP. The ability to get on base has been a theme throughout his career, from Placer to Oregon and now into professional baseball.

Arizona Fall League

And now he gets another opportunity.

On September 22, Aroz was named to the Glendale Desert Dogs roster for the 2026 Arizona Fall League, one of nine Dodgers prospects headed to the league. The Fall League starts October 3.

For a player who was the 585th pick in the 2025 draft, it's a pretty quick climb.

He's gone from one of the top catchers in California, to a college player fighting for playing time, to a 19th-round pick who spent his first pro season working his way up the Dodgers system.

Now he'll get another chance to show what he can do and after everything it took to get here, it's worth keeping an eye on what happens next.

Still giving back

Even while chasing a professional baseball career, Aroz hasn't forgotten where he started. Every December, he runs a catching camp for young players with his former travel program, the NorCal/Chico Aces.

From Placer High to Oregon to the Dodgers farm system, Aroz has taken the long way around and he's still moving.

The History of Anson and ThighPro

Anson has been wearing ThighPro since 2023. After connecting on Instagram, we actually got to see him play against Vandy while were we living in Nashville.

In 2024, Anson called us the day before a Dodgers workout to see if we could help with the logistics of getting to the stadium and share a little of that experience with him. Getting to be a small part of that day was pretty cool for us.

Anson officially joined the brand as a ThighPro Athlete in 2025. He's a great athlete, but more importantly, a really good person. We've gotten to know Anson and his family over the past few years and love getting together with them a few times a year, going to events, watching games or just catching up at our collective favorite spots The Vig or Pure Sushi when we get the original ThighPro gang (Alan Espinal and Logan Poteet) together during Spring Training.

Watching him work his way through the Oregon Ducks program to the Dodgers system and on to the Arizona Fall League has been a lot of fun. We've been cheering for Anson since 2023, and we're excited to see what's next.

Fun fact: his uncle was one of the original founders of Professional Bull Riding.

Sources

Older articles Back to News Newer articles