Eagle Baseball alumni are making their marks in the pros

While the college baseball season is over, several former MSU Eagle Baseball players and coaches are in the middle of minor league regular seasons and are taking the steps toward successful professional baseball careers. 
 
Former Eagles in affiliated pro ball are Aaron Leasher, Niko Hulsizer and Taylor Davis (14). After seeing time in the Cincinnati Reds’ system last season, Patrick McGuff is back in the Frontier League. Jesus Carrera (17) is playing professionally in Italy, while former assistant coaches Graham Johnson and Dillon Lawson have positions as coaches and instructors in pro baseball. Leasher, Hulsizer, McGuff, Carrera and Johnson played for or coached alongside current head coach Mike McGuire (96) at MSU. Aaron Leasher, who played his last MSU season in 2017, is with the Lake Elsinore Storm, the Class A Advanced California League affiliate of the San Diego Padres. Last season, Leasher compiled a 3.49 ERA and 6-7 record with the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Tincaps (A) and Lake Elsinore. 

Niko Hulsizer, who played his last MSU season in 2018, has moved up to the Great Lakes Loons, the Single A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Midwest League. As a member of the Rookie League Ogden (Utah) Raptors last year, Hulsizer batted .281 with nine home runs and 32 RBI. 
 
Taylor Davis, who played his last MSU season in 2011, is back with the Triple A Iowa Cubs in the Pacific Coast League. Davis has appeared in 13 major league games with the Cubs over the last two seasons. Last year, he hit .275 with four homers at Iowa. This year, he is on the Cubs’ 40-man roster and recently hit his first Major League home run – a game-tying grand slam in the fourth inning that led to a 6-5 comeback win at Wrigley Field against the St. Louis Cardinals this past May. 
 
Patrick McGuff, who played his last MSU season in 2016, was picked up by the Cincinnati Reds last season from the Frontier League Evansville Otters and pitched for the Dayton Dragons (A) in the Midwest League. This year, he is back with the Otters. In 2018, McGuff was 3-1 with a 1.55 ERA at Evansville. 
 

Carrera, who played his last MSU season in 2016, is on the roster for the Macerata Angels in Italy. 
 
Johnson, who coached at MSU from 2012 to 2017, has been elevated to the position of pitching coach for the Double A Corpus Christi Hooks, the Texas League team for the Houston Astros. Last season he was with the Quad City River Bandits. 
 
Lawson, who coached at MSU from 2010 to 2012, is the minor league hitting instructor for the New York Yankees organization. 

From the current roster, two players were drafted in the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Morehead State baseball left-hander Dalton Stambaugh signed with the Baltimore Orioles and redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Alex Garbrick was chosen by the New York Yankees.

During his standout redshirt junior campaign, Stambaugh crafted a 7-4 record in 15 starts, tossing a career-high 91.1 innings in helping MSU to its first 40-win season in program history. In his 91.1 innings, he struck out a career-best 104 hitters, becoming the sixth pitcher in Morehead State history to strike out 100 or more in a season.

He departs Morehead State ranking fourth in shutouts (two), fifth in strikeouts (238), sixth in victories (17), ninth in innings pitched (247.0), and 10th in strikeouts per nine innings (8.67). He helped the Eagles to 113 victories and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the 2018 Clemson Regional. He’s the first-ever Eagle selected by the Orioles. Garbrick is the third-ever MSU player chosen in an MLB Draft by the Yankees. He sat out the 2018 season as a medical redshirt and returned this year to help the Eagles win a school-record 40 games. He finished with 69 strikeouts in just 58 innings and made OVC weekend starts in two of the final three series.

The 90+ mile-per-hour fastballer from Mill Hall, Pa., finished with a 3-4 record and a 4.32 earned run average this season. He is the ninth player to be drafted in head coach Mike McGuire’s tenure, all since 2015, and it’s the third year since then the Eagle program has landed multiple selections in the same draft class.

To learn more about MSU Baseball and other MSU Athletics teams, visit www.msueagles.com. 

MOREHEAD STATE’S MLB DRAFT HISTORY