It was an eventful week for minor league baseball. The MiLB saw many players, including one former WVU Baseball player, move to new teams, and the remaining active collegiate summer leagues are getting ready to begin their respective playoffs. Read more: Around the Farm #6: Summer leagues nearing end and MLB trade deadline.
Additionally, another MiLB player was called up to the MLB, making St. Louis Cardinals rookie JJ Wetherholt no longer the only former Mountaineer active in the big leagues.
On top of all of this exciting news, I will still highlight the top five performers from collegiate summer leagues and MiLB and name the Players of the Week in this edition of Around the Farm.
Related: Around the Farm #5: More updates across MiLB and summer leagues.
Collegiate summer leagues near end
Appalachian League
The Appalachian League finished its 2026 season Sunday with a championship game between the Pulaski River Turtles and Kingsport Axmen.
WVU Baseball catcher Creed Erdos competed with Pulaski this summer and was active for the championship game.
Unfortunately for the Mountaineer, Erdos and the River Turtles lost to the Axmen in a tiebreaker after the game was tied 8-8 after nine innings.
In the Appalachian League, ties are settled by having one team choose whether to play offense or defense in the tie-breaking half-inning. Pulaski chose to play offense and failed to score, crowning the Axmen as the 2026 champions.
Matthew Robaugh and Weston Smith also played in the Appalachian League this summer with the Bluefield Ridge Runners, a team based in West Virginia.
Cape Cod League and New England League
Two other collegiate summer leagues, the Cape Cod and New England League, will begin playoffs on Tuesday.
In the Cape Cod League, all three teams featuring WVU Baseball players from the 2026 season will compete for the championship.
In the quarterfinals, the Chatham Anglers (Armani Guzman) will face the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, the Bourne Braves (Joshua Surigao) will face the Falmouth Commodores, and the Hyannis Harbor Hawks (Matt Ineich) will face the Cotuit Kettleers.
The Cape Cod League concludes on Wednesday, August 12.
The New England League will only feature one team with 2026 Mountaineers in its playoffs, the Bristol Blues (Hudson Cavallo and JD Costanzo).
Bristol plays on Tuesday in an Opening Round contest against the Newport Gulls. If the Blues are victorious, they will move on to the Divisional Championship to face the Sanford Mariners.
The New England League’s championship series begins on Saturday, August 8, and will run until Monday if necessary.
Bryant Yoak also competed in the New England League with the Ocean State Waves.
Northwoods League
The Northwoods League is the only collegiate summer league that still has regular season games to finish. The playoffs begin on Sunday, August 9, and run until the following Tuesday.
Two Northwoods League teams feature 2026 WVU Baseball players: The Willmar Stingers (David Hagen) and the Richmond Flying Mummies (Weston Mazey, Maxwell Molessa, and Colton Sims).
Neither team finished at the top of its respective divisions in the first half, but the Stingers are currently the Great Plains West division leaders for the second half, giving them a chance at the playoffs.
Top summer league performances
For the second week in a row, all three of the Richmond Flying Mummies batters are featured on the list.
Infielder Mazey played a total of six games this past week, racking up eight hits and three RBI.
Outfielder Molessa also had a solid week with the Flying Mummies with six hits and two RBI.
The last Flying Mummies player is Sims, who had two home runs this week, along with 10 hits and six total RBI across seven games.
The last two top performers this week come from the Cape Cod League.
Also making the list for the second week in a row is Guzman with seven hits and two RBI in six games played.
The last collegiate summer league top performer is Matt Ineich, who played six total games, totaling four hits and four RBI.
MLB Trade Deadline move and MLB call-up
On Monday at 6 p.m., the MLB hit its trade deadline for the 2026 season. Although almost all active former WVU Baseball players in the MiLB stayed put, one player has found a new home.
Jackson Wolf was traded to the Detroit Tigers organization as part of the deal that sent Tigers pitcher Casey Mize to the San Diego Padres. The Padres also received third baseman Gage Workman, while the Tigers received pitcher Lash Mayfield in addition to Wolf.
Wolf will now play for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens while he awaits the opportunity to return to the MLB.
Also on the move was former WVU Baseball pitcher Michael Grove, but his move was within the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
Grove, who previously played for the Triple-A Durham Bulls, will now return to the MLB and compete with the Rays. Grove made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022.
In his return, Grove pitched 2 total innings on Monday, with the Rays defeating the Colorado Rockies 13-9. For his last game with the Bulls, he was the winning pitcher.
MiLB top performers
This week’s list features three pitchers and two batters as the top former Mountaineer performers this week.
The first pitcher is David Hagaman with the Hillsboro Hops of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization for the third week in a row.
Hagaman was the winning pitcher in his one appearance this week, pitching a total of 6.1 innings with 10 strikeouts. He only allowed one run and five hits.
Staying in the Diamondbacks organization, pitcher Kade Strowd makes the list for the first time. He made one relief appearance, pitching two innings with two hits, no runs and four strikeouts, earning the win.
The last pitcher is Derek Clark of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Los Angeles Angels). He was also a winning pitcher, starting one game with seven innings pitched, two hits, no runs, and two strikeouts.
Moving on to the batters for this week’s list, outfielder Skylar King of the Salem RidgeYaks (Boston Red Sox) once again. He played five games in total and had six hits, four RBI, and one home run.
Closing out this week’s list is infielder Tevin Tucker of the Spokane Indians (Rockies). He played five games this week and had a grand slam in one of his appearances. In total, he was at bat in four games, a pinch runner for one, and had six total hits and four RBI.
Players of the Week
The Mountaineer Summer League Player of the Week is infielder Colton Sims. His ten hits and two homers were some of the most consistent hitting we have seen from Mountaineers this summer.
The Mountaineer MiLB player of the week is pitcher David Hagaman. It was tough to pass on giving the award to Tevin Tucker for his grand slam, but Hagaman’s 10-strikeout performance was impressive.
That does it for another edition of Around the Farm. Tune in next week for a recap of the remaining four collegiate summer leagues playoff series and to see who the next list of top performers will include.
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