Pro Beavs: Oregon State Baseball Players in the 2024 MLB Playoffs
This Major League Baseball postseason, three former Oregon State Beavers are looking to help their respective pro teams reach the World Series. Those three former Beavs are dispersed across two teams in the American League: the Cleveland Guardians and the Baltimore Orioles.
Cleveland Guardians: Steven Kwan - Outfielder, Matthew Boyd - Pitcher
This regular season, Kwan was a starter in the MLB All-Star game, his first time reaching the Midsummer Classic. He batted .292 with 140 hits, scoring 83 runs. As a junior at Oregon State in 2018 (his final year with the program), Kwan hit .355 with 41 RBIs, helping the Beavs to their third national championship. Cleveland drafted him in the fifth round in 2018.
Boyd joined the Guardians this season after stints with the Blue Jays, Tigers, and Mariners. This season, he has appeared in eight games for the Guardians, picking up two wins and two losses. He struck out 46 and walked 13. He was a 2013 sixth-round selection by Toronto after four seasons in Corvallis.
The Guardians are the #2 seed in the American League, with a bye into the American League Divisional Series. They will face the winner of the Wild Card series between the Houston Astros and the Detroit Tigers. THE ALDS will begin Saturday, October 5 on TBS.
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Baltimore Orioles: Adley Rutschman - Catcher
This regular season, the former Beavs catcher hit .250 with 143 hits, 19 home runs, and 79 RBIs. He also scored 68 runs and was a starter in the MLB All-Star game. He had a fielding percentage of .996.
At OSU, Rutschman was the Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2019, won the Golden Spikes Award, and helped OSU win the 2018 College World Series Championship. He was the #1-overall selection by Baltimore in the 2019 MLB Draft.
The Orioles are the #4 seed in the American League. They face the Kansas City Royals in the Wild Card round. The Wild Card Rounds will be broadcast on ESPN networks.
Joe Londergan joined the SI brand in 2023 with G5 Football Daily. With over 15 years of experience in covering and working directly in college and pro sports, Joe's expertise has been featured in Front Office Sports, SB Nation, and XRAY.FM. He is a member of both the Football Writers' Association of America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and a master's degree in sports administration from Seattle University. Outside of his writing career, Joe enjoys golfing, although he admits that while he hits driver decently, his short game is a liability.