When he made his MLB debut on June 1, Ryan Loutos became the first WashU alum to play in the MLB in 50 years. (Annie Tian | Contributing Illustrator)

For most WashU students, there are just eight miles and a short metro ride that separate campus from Busch Stadium. For 2021 graduate Ryan Loutos, the journey was a little more complicated. 

Loutos could have stayed in St. Louis, or accepted his job offer to be a software engineer in Chicago after graduating. Instead, he signed a contract to play professional baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals, joining their minor league system.

Three years later, on June 1, Loutos took the mound in a Major League Baseball (MLB) game for the first time. By making his Major League debut, Loutos became the first WashU alum to play in the MLB since 1974. 

Like most young pitchers, Loutos always dreamed of jogging out of a Major League bullpen to face the pros he used to watch on TV. He just was never sure it was within the realm of possibility. 

“I went into everything with no expectations, and I think that having that mindset of no expectations, but just seeing how good I could be, has allowed me to reach heights greater than otherwise,” he said. “I just wanted to see how far I could take it.”

Before signing his contract with the Cardinals, Loutos led the Washington University baseball team to the semifinals of the 2021 D-III College World Series. Loutos was a standout pitcher in his four years at WashU, leading the Bears’ starting pitching staff in earned run average (ERA). Beyond the mound, Loutos graduated with a Computer Science degree from the McKelvey School of Engineering. 

When he signed his contract with the Cardinals, Loutos initially pitched with the Palm Beach Cardinals at the lowest level of Minor League Baseball. He struggled on the mound during his first year in Palm Beach, but quickly became valuable to the Cardinals’ front office for his computer science experience. After developing a pitching analytics software for WashU baseball with one of his teammates, Loutos partnered with the Cardinals’ front office to create a similar software for the Cardinals’ organization. 

The resulting program, Chirp, revolutionized the way that the Cardinals develop their pitching prospects and prepare for games. The software made him popular in the front office, but it put him at the receiving end of many jokes in the locker room, including teammates teasing him that he was a “front office spy.” 

“Guys would come up to me and be like, ‘So you’re the guy who’s making me look bad on Chirp?’” he said. “That was usually the conversation starter when I would meet new guys.” 

Loutos put his computer science skills to use for WashU and the Cardinals, developing software that helped with development of pitchers.(Clara Richards | Student Life)

As Chirp became more successful, so did Loutos. He began training at Premier Pitching Performance in Wentzville, Missouri, where he increased his fastball velocity to 97 miles per hour, above the MLB average. Loutos started the 2022 season with High-A Peoria and dominated the minor leagues all the way to AAA Memphis. 

One call away from the big leagues, Loutos hit another snag. He spent the second half of 2022 and all of 2023 in Memphis, pitching to an ERA above six runs. But in 2024, the right-hander finally found success at the AAA level — he became one of the Redbirds’ most trusted relievers. 

On Sunday, May 19, after a game in Memphis, Loutos’ manager Ben Johnson approached him with some good news: Loutos was bound for the big leagues.

“The whole locker room was all kind of there, and everyone kind of erupted, and was congratulating me and stuff. It’s just like a rush of emotion, not really knowing how to behave and what to do. [I was] just kind of like, ‘Holy crap,’” he recalled. 

Loutos left the locker room ready to share the news with his father. As he was getting ready to make the call home, however, Loutos saw his dad’s number pop up on his phone.

“I answered, and I’m like ‘Hello?’ and no response. He just butt-dialed me,” Loutos said with a laugh.

After informing his family, Loutos made the trip back to the city he got to know so well during his college days. From there, however, he was forced to play the waiting game. Night after night went by, with Loutos never leaving the bullpen. 

“I had a lot of mental ups and downs … of trying to prepare myself as best as I could. I didn’t know when it was gonna come,” he said. “Some of the things that I had to hold on to more than anything was just how cool it was. This is an unbelievably special and unique thing that I get a chance to do, that only 23,000 people in history have ever gotten a chance to do.”

Finally, on June 1, in the second game of a series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol called Loutos’ number. 

“I remember just like running out there, stepping on the mound in Philly, and seeing these Phillies hitters come up, who I was watching in the playoffs, get to the NLCS and the World Series in the last couple of years. It was just everything,” he said. “‘Wow, this is nuts.’ That’s all I kept thinking.”

Despite the nerves, Loutos pitched a scoreless eighth inning in his debut, getting outs against Bryson Stott, Nick Castellanos, and Johan Rojas. As he walked back to the dugout, the gravity of the moment sunk in.

“Afterwards, it was like this rush of emotion that came through me that was unlike any other experience of just immense gratitude,” he said. “I’m not much of a cryer, but I was struggling to hold back tears in the dugout because I just couldn’t believe that I just did that.”

Loutos was sent back down to Memphis on June 4, after appearing in a game against the Houston Astros. He would make one more appearance in the MLB in 2024, pitching a scoreless inning at Busch Stadium. Loutos did not give up a run at the MLB level all season. With Memphis, he became the team’s regular closer and was second at the AAA level in saves. 

At the root of Loutos’ success is his experience as the ace of the WashU pitching staff. On campus, he and his teammates would eat lunch and hang out at Stanley’s Sushi in Lopata Hall. The community he found at WashU remains strong — so much so that many of his WashU teammates made the trip to St. Louis to be at his first MLB game. 

“The best part about WashU, for me, was that it was one of the first times where I felt like the people I was around were my people,” he said. “I got to WashU as a freshman, and I had 30 teammates and 30 best friends the day I got there.” 

A number of Loutos’ former teammates joined him at Busch Stadium at the first game after he got called up. (Courtesy of Henry Singer)

Loutos’ story is the epitome of a St. Louis story — except for the fact that the right-hander grew up a Cubs fan. Over the offseason, Loutos is working as a consultant for Premier Pitching and developing an app that will function as their version of Chirp. The season ahead is an important year for the right-hander.

“My next goal would be to stick in the big leagues from Opening Day to the end of the year. But I try not to think too far in advance, stay where my feet are, and be as good as I can be right now.”