Now more than two months into the 2024 Major League Baseball season, storylines are beginning to take shape, and there’s already been a handful of memorable moments for Long Beach’s big league talent.
Recently, it’s been former Lakewood Lancer J.P. Crawford, who is back healthy and producing for the Seattle Mariners. On May 29, Crawford delivered in the clutch with a walk-off sac fly to lead the M’s to a win over their division rival Houston Astros. That game-winner made a bigger splash thanks to a viral video of Crawford’s dogs howling in celebration back at home, while the TV at the Crawford house showed J.P. getting mobbed by his teammates at Safeco Field.
Crawford then started June in style, crushing a grand slam against the Angels for his fourth long ball of the campaign. The 29-year-old missed nearly a month due to an oblique strain, but is back in the groove now for the first-place Mariners.
The calendar switch to June has already paid dividends for Spencer Steer with the Cincinnati Reds. The former Millikan Ram opened June with three consecutive multi-hit games–collecting eight knocks combined–as he looks to get back on track after a sluggish May at the plate.
Lakewood alum Travis d’Arnaud has had a solid season with the Atlanta Braves so far, serving as the team’s primary catcher after an injury to teammate Sean Murphy. With the added playing time, d’Arnaud has delivered some fireworks, posting a solid .790 OPS with five homers and 21 RBIs in 44 games.
The highlight of d’Arnaud’s season came during a wild four-day stretch from April 19-22. He started it off with a three-homer game against the Texas Rangers, driving in a half dozen runs in a Braves win. He then proceeded to homer in each of his next two starts, giving him all five of his home runs this season, spread across just 10 at-bats during those four games. He also walked twice, scored six runs and drove in 10 during the remarkable hot streak.
Long Beach-born Trevor Megill is having a strong season in the Milwaukee Brewers’ bullpen, earning the closer’s role in May and saving eight games so far. Megill has posted a 2.40 ERA with 21 strikeouts in his first 15 IP this season. He survived an injury scare on May 28 when he was hit by a comeback liner right on his pitching arm, forcing him from the game. Fortunately, he returned on June 1 and collected three strikeouts in a perfect inning of relief.
Former Long Beach State starting pitcher Darren McCaughan appeared for his second big league team back on May 4, coming out of the Miami Marlins bullpen to face the Oakland A’s. He gave up eight runs in 4.2 innings, and was designated for assignment the next day, which resulted in a trade to the Cleveland Guardians organization.
Coincidentally, that cleared the way for another right-hander to make his MLB debut for the Marlins, and it was none other than McCaughan’s former Long Beach State teammate, Eli Villalobos.
Villalobos made his debut on May 5 in Oakland, recording the final out of the game with his first big league strikeout. The 26-year-old would make two more relief appearances for the Marlins before getting sent back to Triple-A, posting a solid 2.08 ERA in 4.1 innings of work.
He became the third former Dirtbag to make his MLB debut this season, along with former battery mate David Bañuelos, who got the call from the Baltimore Orioles back on Apr. 16. The 27-year-old catcher grounded out in his pinch hit appearance at Oriole Park, facing his previous organization, the Minnesota Twins.
Among the group of family and friends in the stands for Villalobos and Bañuelos were their wives, who both happen to be former Long Beach State student-athletes. Villalobos is married to Emma Villalobos (née Kirst), formerly of the women’s volleyball team, and Bañuelos is married to Jessica Bañuelos (née Gertz) who played basketball at the Beach.
Including San Francisco Giants right-hander Nick Avila, the Dirtbags have now had three players make their MLB debuts this season, giving the program an all-time total of 57 MLB players.
