There was good news in store for fellow Future Stars Series alums Dylan Crews and Mateo Gil this past week, with one getting moved up to the Eastern League, and one getting promoted from it.
Crews made his Double-A debut in Harrisburg this past week, and spoke with FSS Plus in a lengthy interview for a story you’ll see later this week. One of the topics discussed was whether he might be promoted to the big leagues at the end of the year, and the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s MLB Draft showed no signs of not being able to handle such a move, smacking his first Double-A extra-base hit on Friday night.
Speaking of @__dc4__, here’s the @ftrstarsseries alum smacking his first extra-base hit at the Double-A level. pic.twitter.com/nR7t5QIU9G
— Mike Ashmore (@mashmore98) August 26, 2023
As for Gil, he earned the first promotion to Triple-A of his career after hitting .294 over the month of August with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. The 23-year-old made his debut with the Syracuse Mets on Saturday, and reached base on a walk.
Jonathon Long, INF — Myrtle Beach Pelicans (A; Chicago Cubs)
A National Tournaments standout with Trombly Baseball, Long was a somewhat under the radar draftee of the Cubs at No. 266 overall in July, and has been swinging a hot bat right away to start his professional career. He’s posted a 1.054 OPS over his first 15 games, including four homers in only 48 at-bats.
Petey Halpin, OF — Akron RubberDucks (AA; Cleveland Guardians)
Halpin was faced the with task of being the first batter that this year’s No. 1 overall pick, Paul Skenes, faced in Double-A, and passed the test with flying colors, delivering a clean single that helped knock him out of the ballgame in the first inning. Alongside fellow FSS alum Franco Aleman in Akron, Halpin has excelled in his first year at the level, hitting .252 with eight homers and 36 RBI over his first 98 games.
Grayson Rodriguez, RHP — (MLB; Baltimore Orioles)
Back in the big leagues seemingly for good after his mid-July return, Rodriguez has seemed to put it together over his last six outings; he’s gone more than five innings and allowed three or fewer runs in each, including an August 14 showing in San Diego in which he allowed just one run on three hits over a season-long seven innings of work, striking out six along the way.
