Pro Update – June 19, 2014
One year removed from their time at Cal State Fullerton, former Titans Chad Wallach and Carlos Lopez have already made quite an impression at the next level.
Wallach, the former Titans backstop (2011-13) was drafted in the fifth round (142 overall) by the Miami Marlins in the 2013 MLB Draft and has been playing well for the Greensboro Grasshoppers, the Marlins Single A affiliate.
Wallach has played 49 games and is batting .328 with four home runs and 30 RBI. He has hammered out 12 doubles, one triple and is slugging .477 on the season to go along with a .431 on-base percentage. Wallach's numbers earned him a selection to the Northern Division All-Star Team for the 55th Annual South Atlantic League All-Star Game, played on June 17 at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina. He went 0-for-1 in his only plate appearance.
Along with Wallach, Lopez (2010-13) was also selected by the Miami Marlins in the 2013 MLB Draft, going in the 10th round (292 overall). In 62 games with the Grasshoppers, Lopez is batting .310 with two home runs and 33 RBI. He is second on the team with 75 hits and 17 doubles and is fourth with 26 walks. The 2013 Senior CLASS Award-winner is slugging .413 on the year and boasts a .376 on-base percentage, which also garnered him a selection to the Northern Division All-Star Team. In the game, Lopez went 2-for-4 with a triple and a run scored as the two teams played to a 4-4 tie.
Read the recap from Tuesday's All-Star game here.
More Titans in the Pros
Khris Davis (2007-09) was the 53rd Titan to make his MLB debut last year and has settled in to his role with the Milwaukee Brewers in his second season in the Majors.
Davis has played in 65 games for the Brewers, who boast the third best record in the Majors and second best in the National League. Davis is batting .256 this year with 62 hits, 30 of them going for extra bases. He has belted 11 home runs, nearly matching his total from last season when he hit 13. Davis has 31 RBI, six off his 2013 total of 37 and has a .787 OPS.
Read more about Davis finding his form with the Brewers here.
Kurt Suzuki signed a one-year deal with the Minnesota Twins during the offseason and is off to a great start.
The former Titans catcher (2002-04) boasts a .305 batting average with a .765 OPS. He has 60 hits, 12 doubles, two home runs and 30 RBI for the Twins, serving as their primary catcher. He currently leads all American League catchers who have played at least 50 games in batting average, on-base percentage, OPS, and RBI.
Read more about Suzuki's stellar start in Minnesota here.
Reed Johnson is in the midst of his 12th season in the Majors. He has played in 47 games for the Miami Marlins and is batting .273 with two home runs and 16 RBI. He is slugging .432 in 94 plate appearances as 10 of his 24 hits have gone for extra bases.
Recently, Johnson talked about the influence Tony Gwynn had on his career, which you can read here.
The Cincinnati Reds selected Michael Lorenzen with the 38th overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft and after starting his career as a reliever, Lorenzen has ascended to a starting pitcher at Double-A Pensacola. In 13 starts this season, Lorenzen has 47 strikeouts and has walked 21 in 71 innings of work. He has a 4-4 record with a 2.41 ERA.
Read more about Lorenzen's progress at MLB.com.
Dylan Floro (2010-12) recently won his second Southern League Pitcher of the Week Award. The former Titans pitcher has made 14 starts for the Montgomery Biscuits, the Tampa Bay Rays' Double-A affiliate. He is 6-5 with a 3.28 ERA and has 59 strikeouts and just nine walks in 90 and 2/3 innings pitched.
Read more about Floro winning the pitcher of the week award here.
Tyler Pill (2009-11) was a solid two-way player for the Titans in his time at Cal State Fullerton, batting .335 in 119 career games and accumulating a 22-8 record on the mound with a 3.22 career ERA. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the fourth round of the 2011 MLB Draft and showed off his many skills for Double-A Binghamton on Thursday, going 3-for-3 with a home run and four RBI while tossing eight scoreless innings.
Read more about Pill's excellent day here.
Matt Chapman is officially a member of the Oakland Athletics organization. The Titans third baseman (2012-14) was drafted by the A's with the 25th overall selection in the 2014 MLB Draft last week and was in Oakland before reporting to Class A Beloit of the Midwest League.
Read more about Chapman's visit to Oakland here.
Lastly, former Titans great and current Los Angeles Dodgers bench coach Tim Wallach will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday. The 1979 Golden Spikes Award winner played two seasons at Cal State Fullerton and batted .392 with 39 home runs and 182 RBI in that time. Wallach was among the seven inaugural members of the Cal State Fullerton Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005 and was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.
He played 17 years in the Major Leagues with the Expos, Dodgers and Angels and was a three-time Rawlings Gold-Glove winning third baseman and five-time National League All-Star. He finished his career with 260 home runs and 1,125 RBI.
Read more about Wallach's induction at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame website.
During 2014, Cal State Fullerton's alumni totaled 25 playing professional baseball, including five at the MLB level.
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