This summer, I’ll be doing a weekly series titled “Around the Farm.” Over the summer, the series will track where current and former Mountaineers are playing outside of WVU Baseball in collegiate summer leagues and Minor League Baseball (MiLB). Read more: Around the Farm: Where current and former WVU Baseball players are now.
This first edition will focus on tracking down where everyone is this summer and providing details about what is to come. Next week, the series will start to talk about what the players have done, naming a Summer League and MiLB Mountaineer of the Week.
According to Baseball Reference, 10 of WVU’s baseball players from this past season are confirmed to be spending time with a collegiate summer team. Additionally, 17 former players are listed on WVU Baseball’s page as currently playing in MiLB.
Gavin Kelly is with USA National Team
WVU standout second baseman and catcher, Gavin Kelly, is currently involved with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, competing in the Stars vs. Stripes series.
Kelly was assigned to Team Stars and just completed the exhibition slate. During the exhibition slate, Team Stars and Team Stripes competed against various Appalachian League teams.
Team Stars ended with a 1-1-1 record in its exhibition games, defeating the Greenville Flyboys, falling to the Johnson City Doughboys, and drawing the Appalachian League Select team in a scoreless contest.
Kelly’s best game was against the Flyboys, racking up two RBI in the 9-1 victory. He had two hits in the contest, each resulting in an RBI.
The First Team All-American added two more hits to his stat line against the Appalachian League Select Team.
Related: Mountaineer Americans: Kelly and Yehl earn First-Team All-American honors
The Stars and Stripes will begin competing against each other in a five-game series on Tuesday. Games 1 and 5 will take place at Segra Stadium in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The other three contests will be in Cary, North Carolina, at the National Training Complex.
Following the Stars and Stripes series, both teams will be narrowed down to the official USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, which will compete in Taiwan for the World Collegiate Baseball Championship.
Should Kelly qualify, he will compete against Korea, Chinese Taipei and Japan from July 11-13, with the Semifinals and Finals taking place July 14-15.
Summer League participants – Appalachian League
Five of the 10 WVU Baseball players are competing with Appalachian League teams this summer.
The Pulaski River Turtles have the most Mountaineers rostered with infielder Sean Goldy, catcher Creed Erdos, and pitcher Mac Stiffler.
The Bluefield Ridge Runners, located in Bluefield, West Virginia, currently have outfielder and catcher Matthew Robaugh and pitcher Weston Smith rostered.
Goldy, Erdos, Robaugh and Smith are all competing with Summer League teams for the first time. Stiffler played with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod League in 2025.
Stiffler will not return to WVU Baseball in 2027 as he has entered the transfer portal.
Summer League participants – Cape Cod League
Another three players are competing in the Cape Cod League this summer.
Two of those players, utility Armani Guzman and pitcher Bryson Thacker, are listed on the Chatham Anglers roster.
Infielder Matt Ineich has joined the Hyannis Harbor Hawks for the summer.
All three players have prior summer league experience. Previously, Thacker and Guzman competed in the Appalachian League while Guzman and Ineich played for Northwoods League teams.
Thacker will not return to WVU Baseball next season after entering his name into the transfer portal.
Summer League participants – MLB Draft League
The last two players will stay in Morgantown and compete with the West Virginia Black Bears of the MLB Draft League.
The players are pitchers Luke Lyman and Carson Estridge.
Lyman has spent most of his summers with various summer league teams, while Estridge only has prior experience in the Cape Cod League with Falmouth.
Estridge will not return to WVU Baseball in 2027 due to running out of college eligibility.
MiLB participants
According to WVU Baseball, 17 former players are actively rostered on MiLB teams across the various sublevels of the league.
Three players are currently active on Triple-A rosters, including pitcher Alek Manoah, catcher Paul McIntosh and catcher Dayne Leonard.
Manoah was recently optioned to the Salt Lake City Bees in the Los Angeles Angels organization.
Related: Former WVU pitcher Alek Manoah returning to minor leagues.
McIntosh is with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.
Leonard was recently activated to the Louisville Bats of the Cincinnati Reds organization.
The other players currently with MiLB teams are:
- RHP Jacob Watters – AA Montgomery Biscuits (Tampa Bay Rays)
- RHP David Hagaman – A+ Hillsboro Hops (Arizona Diamondbacks)
- RHP Carlson Reed – A+ Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pittsburgh Pirates)
- LHP Tyler Switalski – A+ Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants)
- INF Tevin Tucker – A+ Spokane Indians (Colorado Rockies)
- RHP Madison Jeffrey – A+ Winston-Salem Dash (Chicago White Sox)
- LHP Griffin Kirn – A+ Lansing Lugnuts (Athletics)
- C Logan Sauve – A+ Lansing Lugnuts (Athletics)
- 1B Kyle West – A+ Hudson Valley Renegades (New York Yankees)
- RHP Jack Kartsonas – A+ Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay Rays)
- RHP Robby Porco – A+ Great Lake Loons (Los Angeles Dodgers)
- LHP Derek Clark – A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Los Angeles Angels)
- OF Skylar King – A Salem RidgeYaks (Boston Red Sox)
- UTL Sam White – Rk FCL Blue Jays (Toronto Blue Jays)
What to expect from the series
Now that I have broken down where each current and former player is currently located, I plan to highlight top performers in future editions of Around the Farm.
There’s always the possibility of someone joining a different team later, so I’ll try to update on that as the information becomes available.
Did I miss someone? Leave a comment below, and I’ll make sure to keep them on my radar moving forward.
Minor league ball is often underrepresented, so I hope this series will help keep people in the loop of what the Mountaineers are up to beyond college athletics.
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