CLARKSVILLE – A pair of Austin Peay State University baseball alumni will again be featured on the opening day rosters of Major League Baseball teams in 2019, with one familiar face returning and a new face soon to join the list of Governors alumni making professional debuts.
Shawn Kelley (2003-07, HOF 2014) will begin his 11th season in the majors with his sixth different club, opening 2019 with the Texas Rangers. The new kid on the block is Ryne Harper (2008-11), who received word Monday that he will join the Minnesota Twins opening day roster after a stellar spring training.
Kelley has been a stalwart in the bullpens of the New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics – making 50-plus appearances in five of the last six seasons between those four clubs. He signed with Texas during the offseason and made five spring training appearances with the Rangers. Kelley did not allow a run in those four outings, surrendering just two hits while striking out four batters.
Harper spent eight seasons in the minors and had received just one call up to the majors in his career but did not pitch in the majors, earning him a "Moonlight Graham" reference in an MLB story. He received a non-roster invitation and made the most of it, even gaining recognition from MLB's official Twitter account after retiring three consecutive batters with a devastating curveball that he has developed in his time with the Twins organization. Harper learned he made the Twins opening day roster Monday, just days before his 30th birthday.
A couple of Governors will begin 2019 in the organized minor leagues. The closest to the majors starting the year is Tyler Rogers (2012-13), who starts his third season at the Triple-A level Sacramento River Cats. In his two previous full seasons (he also saw 24 games of action in 2016), all Rogers has done is post a 2.26 ERA with 103 strikeouts in 143.2 innings pitched while holding opponents to a .222 batting average in those two campaigns. #FreeRogers indeed. Michael Costanzo begins his first full season as a professional in 2019 after being drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018 but is awaiting his assignment for the upcoming year.
In addition, three Governors alumni will further their professional careers when the independent minor league schedules start next month: Jared Carkuff, Garrett Copeland and Casey Delgado.
