The 2021 Major League Baseball Draft wrapped up on Tuesday, with seven Long Beach area ballplayers hearing their names called during the 20-round affair. Last season’s draft was condensed to just five rounds, leaving an even larger crop of talent in this year’s player pool. One of the most notable hold-overs from last year’s shortened […]
Debuts, returns, the Olympics and contract arbitration are just a few of the interesting stories this month involving Long Beach products in Major League Baseball. Wilson Bruins fans have been pleasantly surprised to see Chase De Jong and Tommy Nance both pitching in The Show over the last few weeks. The Wilson alums weren’t on […]
Minor league ballplayers were forced to wait more than a year between games, but the 2021 season finally got underway last week. The layoff may have delayed their career timelines, but Long Beach’s young talent is now back on the diamond continuing their journey to the big leagues. A few Long Beach State alums find […]
On a cloudless Thursday afternoon in Huntington Beach, Ricky Tiedemann found himself somewhere he never thought he’d be. The 6-foot-4 left-hander has thrown from hundreds of pitching mounds in his baseball career, but just a year prior it would’ve been difficult to imagine him standing on this one. Tiedemann was warming up for his first […]
LHP Ricky Tiedemann, MLB Draft Prospect (Lakewood HS/Golden West College) We checked in with former Lakewood High left-hander Ricky Tiedemann as he prepares for the 2021 MLB Draft. Tiedemann is ranked the No. 1 junior college draft prospect in the country, finding a home at nearby Golden West College. For more coverage of all Long […]
As the calendar turns to April, it signals the start of another Major League Baseball season. That makes it the perfect time to check in with Long Beach’s former ballplayers to see how they’re faring on the big stage. This year’s Spring Training had a large contingent of local talent, with a mixed group of […]
Travis d’Arnaud didn’t even know they were announcing the Major League Baseball Sliver Slugger awards last Thursday, but a text from a friend reminded him just in time. “With 10 minutes left (in the awards show) me and my wife just rushed to the couch and turned it on (the television),” d’Arnaud said. “Once we […]
On this special episode we talk to Lakewood High alum and Long Beach native J.P. Crawford less than 24 hours after he won the American League Gold Glove at shortstop with the Seattle Mariners.
If you were driving under Interstate 405 in Long Beach during the COVID-19 spring shutdown, you could’ve seen a Major League Baseball player throwing weighted balls against the side of a massive concrete pillar. “I rode my bike there and played catch with a wall for six weeks,” Chase De Jong said. “Instead of sitting […]
On this special episode we talk to Wilson High alum Chase De Jong about his incredible and inspiring journey back into Major League Baseball where he was in the Houston Astros bullpen for the epic American League Championship Series this year.