After eight weeks of covering WVU Baseball players competing in collegiate summer leagues, the 2026 season for those leagues has concluded. Read more: Around the Farm #8: Final summer leagues coverage plus an MiLB debut
Overall, several graduating and returning Mountaineers made strong impressions in these leagues, providing valuable additional experience to their baseball careers.
Additionally, MiLB is nearing the end of its season across all four levels. There is roughly a month to go before it heads into its respective playoffs.
A few of the WVU Baseball players selected in the 2026 MLB draft have started their minor league careers. There was also another call-up this past week.
Read until the end to find out who this week’s Mountaineer MiLB Player of the Week is. I will also name a Mountaineer Summer League Player of the Year.
Previous entry: Around the Farm #7: Summer leagues playoffs and an MiLB call-up
Collegiate summer leagues wrap up
This past week, the Cape Cod League, Northwoods League, and New England League officially completed its 2026 seasons with its respective championship games.
The Cape Cod League was the only one of the three to feature a team with a WVU Baseball player in its league championship.
As reported this past week, the Bourne Braves were competing in the Cape Cod League Championship series against the Harwich Mariners.
The Braves had upcoming WVU junior pitcher Joshua Surigao on its roster for the series. Gavin Kelly also played with Bourne for a brief stint before the playoffs.
In the championship series, Bourne lost to Harwich in Game Three, 4-2, falling short of the 2026 league title.
In the Northwoods League, the Willmar Stingers competed in the playoffs with upcoming WVU junior pitcher David Hagen.
The Stingers were eliminated in the first round this past week, losing a three-game series to the St. Cloud Rox.
St. Cloud would go on to play the championship game but lose to the Royal Oak Leprechauns, 3-1.
Finally, the New England League had its championship series this past week, with the Sanford Mariners defeating the Danbury Westerners, 2-1.
The only New England League playoff team with WVU players, the Bristol Blues, were eliminated the week prior. Pitchers Hudson Cavallo and JD Costanzo were apart of the Bristol roster.
Overall, no Mountaineers left their 2026 summer league squads with a ring, but it looks like several of these players should be ready to make a big impact with WVU in 2027.
2026 MLB Draft Mountaineers begin MiLB career
In the 2026 MLB Draft, four former Mountaineers from the 2026 season were drafted to MLB organizations.
Related: MLB Draft Day 2: more Mountaineers headed to big leagues
Of those four players, outfielder Paul Schoenfeld officially began his MiLB career with the Visalia Rawhide this past week.
The Rawhide are the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Single-A affiliate who compete in the California League.
Schoenfeld was selected with the 236th overall pick by the Diamondbacks.
Schoenfeld competed in all six of Visalia’s games this week against the Stockton Ports of the Athletics organization.
He had at least one hit in five of the six games and finished with a stat line that included nine hits, seven RBI, and two stolen bases across 23 at-bats. Four of his hits were doubles.
The other three drafted players, pitchers Dawson Montesa, Maxx Yehl, and Ian Korn, have yet to make their MiLB debuts.
Additionally, undrafted players Reese Bassinger (Toronto Blue Jays) and Carson Estridge (Houston Astros) have also begun playing Single-A ball in recent weeks with the teams that signed them.
Bassinger debuted with the Dunedin Blue Jays on July 28, while Estridge debuted with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers on August 6.
Estridge also had a decent week this past week, pitching two innings across two games. In total, he allowed no runs and only one hit with two strikeouts.
Related: Estridge inks UDFA deal with Houston Astros
Estridge picked up his first MiLB win Saturday against the Fredericksburg Nationals of the Washington Nationals organization.
A call-up and a return to Triple-A
For the third week in a row, a former WVU baseball player has been called up to a higher-level team.
This past week, infielder Tevin Tucker of the Colorado Rockies organization was called up to the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats from the High-A Spokane Indians.
Tucker returns to the Hartford Yard Goats after playing with them briefly in the 2024 MiLB season.
The highlight of Tucker’s return was stealing two bases as a pinch runner Saturday.
Tucker was with WVU for five seasons, most recently in 2023. He was named an All-Big 12 Honorable mention and signed with the Rockies undrafted in 2023.
In the Tampa Bay Rays’ organization, pitcher Michael Grove was optioned back to the Triple-A Durham Bulls for the fourth time this season.
Grove, who has played with the Tampa Bay Rays, was assigned to Durham at the beginning of the season on a rehab assignment.
Since then, Grove has played three games with the Rays this season, most recently on August 12.
Grove played his first game back with the Bulls on Saturday, and relief pitched a perfect 2.2 innings with two strikeouts.
Grove played for WVU from 2016-2018 and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second round of the 2018 MLB Draft. He made his MLB debut with the Dodgers on May 15, 2022.
Other top performances across the MiLB this past week
- LHP Griffin Kirn (High-A Lansing Lugnuts) – pitched three innings across three games. He was the winning pitcher this past Tuesday, only giving up one run.
- LHP Derek Clark (High-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes) – started one game and pitched seven innings. He had 12 strikeouts and was the winning pitcher.
- RHP David Hagaman (Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles) – started one game and pitched 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts. He allowed three hits and two runs.
- C Paul McIntosh (Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs) – appeared in two games this past week, but he hit a grand slam in Wednesday’s game.
- OF Victor Scott II (Triple-A Memphis Redbirds) – played in all six of the Redbirds’ games this past week and had at least one hit in five of the games. In total, he racked up seven hits.
Mountaineer MiLB Player of the Week and Mountaineer Summer League Player of the Year
This week, the Mountaineer MiLB Player of the Week is Paul Schoenfeld. Schoenfeld had a solid stat line for a guy who just started playing professional baseball.
As for the Mountaineer Summer League Player of the Year, there are several players I believe are worthy of the honor. Therefore, I am going to give a bronze and silver medal as well.
The Mountaineer Summer League Bronze Medal goes to infielder Matt Ineich of the Cape Cod League’s Hyannis Harbor Hawks.
Ineich had the second best on-base percentage in the league at .450%. He had 25 hits, 12 RBI, one home run, and 12 stolen bases in 25 games played.
The Mountaineer Summer League Silver Medal goes to outfielder Armani Guzman of the Cape Cod League’s Chatham Anglers.
Guzman was fourth in the league in stolen bases with 18 and tied 24th in RBI with 14.
The player receiving my Mountaineer Summer League Player of the Year honor is… infielder Colton Sims of the Northwoods League’s Richmond Flying Mummies.
Related: WVU Baseball players make amazing defensive play in summer league
Sims led the Flying Mummies in home runs with seven, was second on the team in RBI with 34, and tied for second in doubles with 12. As a young player, I believe Sims holds a lot of promise as a future core piece for the Mountaineers.
That wraps up another edition of “Around the Farm.” Despite the Summer Leagues coming to an end, I will keep the series running until the MiLB season ends in late September.
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