All The College Guys From Eight Playoff Squads…
The 2011 MLB Playoff field is finally set after Wednesday’s late night dramatics that sent the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals into the postseason. Tampa Bay third baseman, Evan Longoria, made the Rays the American League’s wild card representative with his extra inning walk-off home run to beat the New York Yankees.
Longoria starred for Long Beach State in the college ranks before his professional career began. He is one of nearly 180 former college players who are included on the 40-man rosters of the eight playoff teams.
We have included both junior college and four year college players as well as players who are currently on the DL on this following list. An asterisk (*) denotes a player who is not on the active roster.
There are two players on the list who played college ball in Japan. There are four managers, Joe Girardi, Ron Roenicke, Joe Madden, and Kirk Gibson, who all played college baseball. Madden and Gibson also played college football.
Detroit Tigers
Duane Below – LHP – Lake Michigan College
Phil Coke – LHP – San Joaquin Delta, JC
Doug Fister – RHP – Fresno State
Andrew Oliver – LHP – Oklahoma State* Not on active roster
Ryan Perry – RHP – Arizona
Max Scherzer – RHP – Missouri
Daniel Schlereth – RHP – Arizona
Justin Verlander – RHP – Old Dominion
Adam Wilk – LHP – Long Beach State
Alex Avilia – C – Alabama
Omir Santos – C – East Central (Mo) JC
Brandon Inge – 3B – VCU
Cale Iorg – SS –Alabama*
Will Rhymes – 2B – William & Mary
Ryan Strieby – 1B – Kentucky*
Brennan Boesch – OF – Cal
Andy Dirks – OF – Wichita State
Don Kelly – OF – Point Park, PA
Ryan Raburn – OF – South Florida
Clete Thomas – OF – Auburn *
New York Yankees
Andrew Brackman – RHP – North Carolina State
Joba Chamberlain – RHP – Nebraska DL
George Kontos – RHP – Northwestern
Scott Proctor – RHP – Florida State
David Robertson – RHP – Alabama
Cory Wade – RHP – Kentucky Wesleyan
Kevin Whelan – RHP – Texas A&M *
Russell Martin – C – Chipola (FL) JC
Brandon Laird – 3B – Cypress (CA) CC
Mark Teixeira – 1B – Georgia Tech
Colin Curtis – OF – Arizona State DL
Chris Dickerson – OF – Nevada
Brett Gardner – OF – College of Charleston
Curtis Granderson – OF – Illinois-Chicago
Justin Maxwell – OF – Maryland
Nick Swisher – OF – Ohio State
Manager-Joe Girardi played at Northwestern University.
Tampa Bay Rays
Dane De La Rosa – RHP – Riverside (CA) CC
Kyle Farnsworth – RHP – Abraham Baldwin Agricultural (GA)
Brandon Gomes – RHP – Tulane
J.P. Howell – LHP – Texas
Jeff Niemann – RHP – Rice
Joel Peralta – RHP – Ventura (CA) CC
David Price – LHP – Vanderbilt
Cesar Ramos – LHP – Long Beach State
Andy Sonnanstine – RHP – Kent State
Nevin Ashley – C – Indiana State *
John Jaso – C – Southwestern (CA) JC
Kelly Shoppach – C – Baylor
Dan Johnson – 1B – Butler/Nebraska
Evan Longoria – 3B – Long Beach State
Ben Zobrist – 2B – Dallas Baptist
Sam Fuld – OF – Stanford
Brandon Guyer – OF – Virginia
Justin Ruggiano – OF – Texas A&M
Manager-Joe Madden played baseball and football at Lafayette College.
Texas Rangers
Mike Adams – RHP – Texas A&M Kingsville
Cody Eppley – RHP – Virginia Commonwealth
Scott Feldman – RHP – San Mateo (CA) JC
Michael Gonzalez – LHP – San Jacinto (TX) JC
Mark Hamburger – RHP – Mesabi Range (MN) JC
Derek Holland – LHP – Wallace State (AL) CC
Colby Lewis – RHP – Bakersfield (CA) JC
Mark Lowe – RHP – Texas-Arlington
Darren O’Day – RHP – Florida
Yoshinori Tateyama – RHP – Koga Kenko Semmon Gakko (Japan)
Mason Tobin – RHP – Everett (WA) CC
Brandon Webb – RHP – Kentucky DL
C.J. Wilson – LHP – Loyola Marymount
Taylor Teagarden – C – Texas *
Ian Kinsler – 2B – Arizona State/Missouri
Mitch Moreland – 1B – Mississippi State
Julio Borbon – OF – Tennessee *
Craig Gentry – OF – Arkansas
David Murphy – OF – Baylor
Michael Young – DH – UC Santa Barbara
Arizona Diamondbacks
Trevor Bauer – RHP – UCLA *
Josh Collmenter – RHP – Central Michigan
Ryan Cook – RHP – USC
Sam Demel – RHP – TCU
Barry Enright – RHP – Pepperdine *
David Hernandez – RHP – Cosumnes River (CA) JC
Daniel Hudson – RHP – Old Dominion
Ian Kennedy – RHP – USC
Zach Kroenke – LHP – Nebraska *
Kam Mickolio – RHP – Utah Valley State
Wade Miley – LHP – Southeastern Louisiana
Micah Owings – RHP – Tulane
Joe Paterson – LHP – Oregon State
J.J. Putz – RHP – Michigan
Joe Saunders – LHP – Virginia Tech
Bryan Shaw – RHP – Long Beach State
Mike Zagurski – LHP – Kansas *
Brad Ziegler – RHP – Southwest Missouri State
Robby Hammock – C – Georgia
Konrad Schmidt – C – Nevada-Reno
Geoff Blum – 1B – Cal
Stephen Drew – SS – Florida State DL
Paul Goldschmidt – 1B – Texas State
Aaron Hill – 2B – LSU
John McDonald – SS – Providence
Xavier Nady – 1B – Cal
Lyle Overbay – 1B – Nevada-Reno
Ryan Roberts – 3B – Texas-Arlington
Willie Bloomquist – OF – Arizona State
Collin Cowgill – OF – Kentucky
Cole Gillespie – OF – Oregon State
Manager-Kirk Gibson played baseball and football at Michigan State.
Milwaukee Brewers
John Axford – RHP – Notre Dame/Canisius
Zach Braddock – LHP – Burlington (NJ) CC
Mark DiFelice – RHP – Western Carolina *
Tim Dillard – RHP – Itawamba (MS) CC
Marco Estrada – RHP – Long Beach State
Michael Fiers- RHP – Nova Southeastern
Brandon Kintzler – RHP – Dixie State DL
Kameron Loe – LHP – Cal State Northridge
Shaun Marcum – RHP – Southwest Missouri State
Mike McClendon – RHP – Seminole (FL) CC
Manny Parra – LHP – American River (CA) JC
Takashi Saito – RHP – Tohoku Fukushi (Japan)
Mitch Stetter – LHP – Indiana State DL
Randy Wolf – LHP – Pepperdine
George Kottaras – C – Connors State (OK) JC
Jonathon Lucroy – C – Louiaiana-Lafayette
Craig Counsell – IF – Notre Dame
Eric Farris – 2B – Loyola Marymount
Mat Gamel – 3B – Chipola (FL) JC
Taylor Green – 3B – Cypress (CA) CC
Jerry Hairston – SS – Southern Illinois-Carbondale
Casey McGehee – 3B – Fresno State
Rickie Weeks – 2B – Southern
Ryan Braun – OF – Miami
Mark Kotsay – OF – Cal State Fullerton
Nyjer Morgan – OF – Walla Walla (WA)CC
Logan Schafer – OF – Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo
Manager-Ron Roenicke played at UCLA.
Philadelphia Phillies
Joe Blanton – RHP – Kentucky
Justin De Fratus – RHP – Ventura (CA) CC
David Herndon – RHP – Gulf Coast (FL) CC
Cliff Lee – LHP – Arkansas
Brad Lidge – RHP – Notre Dame
Roy Oswalt – RHP – Holmes (MS) CC
Joe Savery – LHP – Rice
Michael Schwimer – RHP – Virginia
Michael Stutes – RHP – Oregon State
Vance Worley – RHP – Long Beach State
Erik Kratz – C – Eastern Mennonite, VA
Ryan Howard – 1B – Southwest Missouri St.
Pete Orr – 2B – Galveston (TX) CC
Placido Polanco – IF – Miami-Dade Wolfson CC
Chase Utley – 2B – UCLA
John Bowker – OF – Long Beach State
Ben Francisco – OF – UCLA
Ross Gload – OF – South Florida
John Mayberry – OF – Stanford
Hunter Pence – OF – Texas-Arlington
St. Louis Cardinals
Mitchell Boggs – RHP – Georgia
Brandon Dickson – RHP – Tusculum, TN
Kyle Lohse – RHP – Butte (CA) CC
Lance Lynn – RHP – Ole Miss (DL)
Jason Motte – RHP – Iona
Adam Reifer – RHP – UC Riverside *
Marc Rzepczynski – LHP – UC Riverside
Tony Cruz – C – Palm Beach (FL) CC
Gerald Laird – C – Cypress (CA) JC
Matt Carpenter – 3B – TCU *
Zack Cox – 3B – Arkansas *
Daniel Descalo – 3B – UC Davis
Tyler Green – 2B – Georgia Tech
Mark Hamilton – 1B – Tulane *
Nick Punto – 2B – Saddeback (CA) CC
Skip Schumaker – 2B – UC Santa Barbara
Ryan Theriot – SS – LSU
Lance Berkman – OF – Rice
Andrew Brown – OF – Nebraska *
Adron Chambers – OF – Pensacola (FL) JC
Allen Craig – OF – Cal
Jon Jay – OF – Miami
Shane Robinson – OF – Florida State