Mustangs in the Pros Update
9/30/2024 3:30:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Bryan Woo earned his ninth win of the 2024 Major League Baseball season over the weekend while Mitch Haniger and Brooks Lee both finished above the .200 mark at the plate.
The MLB regular season ended Sunday with Woo posting a 9-3 win-loss record and 2.89 ERA, striking out 101 batters and walking just 13 over 121 1/3 innings.
In his final start of his sophomore MLB season Friday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Woo notched a season-high eight strikeouts in five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk in the Mariners’ 2-0 victory over Oakland.
Seattle, however, was eliminated from the American League playoffs a day earlier when the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers both reached 85 wins with victories to lock down the final two AL wild-card berths.
Seattle also reached 85 victories by winning five of its last six games, taking two of three from AL West Division champion Houston and sweeping the Athletics over the weekend, but did not have the tiebreaker against both the Royals and Tigers. The Mariners finished two wins shy of the postseason this year after falling one victory short in 2023.
In his sixth season at Seattle, Haniger posted a .208 average for the Mariners with 12 doubles, a dozen home runs and 44 RBIs in 121 games. Haniger played in 121 of Seattle’s 162 games, including 87 starts, this year.
Lee hit .221 in 50 games with the Minnesota Twins in his first MLB season, clubbing six doubles, a triple, three home runs and driving in 27 runs.
Lee, who hit a two-run double against Toronto last Thursday, tying the game at 4-4, hit .287 at home, compiled a .308 batting average in August and, with runners at first and third, second and third or the bases loaded this season, hit .571 (eight of 14) with 18 RBIs.
In contention for a playoff spot two weeks ago, the Twins lost nine of their last 11 games and finished four games out of the chase for the last AL wild card berth.
Cal Poly had as many as six players in the Major Leagues for the second straight season.
In his inaugural MLB season, Drew Thorpe posted a 3-3 record and 5.48 ERA in nine starts for the Chicago White Sox before he was placed on the 15-day injury list August 1 with a right flexor strain and sidelined the rest of the season. He underwent surgery Sept. 7 in San Francisco to shave down a bone spur in his right elbow, but expects to be ready for Spring Training in 2025.
Justin Bruihl pitched in seven games for the Pittsburgh Pirates while Spencer Howard was on the mound seven times for San Francisco and twice for Cleveland.
Two former Mustangs competed in the playoffs for their minor league teams.
Pitcher Erich Uelmen of the Reno Aces tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings against Sugar Land in the opener of the Triple-A playoffs Sept. 24. Sugar Land won the series, two games to none.
Catcher Myles Emmerson went 1-for-9 at the plate in two games for Rocket City against Chattanooga in the Double-A Playoffs on Sept. 11-13. Chattanooga eliminated the Trash Pandas in the three-game series.
HR from Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver, 5 scoreless IP and 8 K from Bryan Woo lead the @Mariners to victory. pic.twitter.com/5s363FU5d5
— MLB (@MLB) September 28, 2024
THE KID pic.twitter.com/0Fkg5CtPyg
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 27, 2024
In other minor league news …
• Southpaw Andrew Alvarez finished 4-7 with a 4.58 ERA in 16 games on the mound for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. He struck out 61 batters over 78 2/3 innings. Alvarez struck out a season-high 10 batters in a Sept. 22 game against Iowa. Rochester lost the contest 3-2 in 10 innings and Alvarez was not involved in the decision.
• Justin Bruihl finished strong at Indianapolis, allowing just one run in six relief appearances (five innings) in September. He was 4-0 with a 3.02 ERA for both Louisville and Indianapolis this season.
• After spending time on the Development List from April 5-11 and from June 18-30, Emerson hit .282 in July with a double, home run and six RBIs and .289 in August for Rocket City.
• In two stints at Sacramento, Howard was 3-3 with a 6.57 ERA, earning 87 strikeouts over 61 2/3 innings. He compiled a 4.63 ERA in September with scoreless stints of two innings (four strikeouts) Sept. 3 at Salt Lake, 2 1/3 frames (three strikeouts) at Round Rock on Sept. 10 and two innings (five strikeouts) Sept. 18 versus Sugar Land.
Follow the progress of all former Cal Poly baseball players in the professional ranks by clicking the link at the top of this page.
