It all began with Jason Hammel on April 11, 2006.
Hammel, a member of the 2001 AppleSox, toed the rubber against the Baltimore Orioles as a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and became the first former Sox player to appear in a major-league game.
Since then, 20 others have appeared in at least one MLB game and countless more on the way in the future. Thirteen of the 20 former Sox players to make it to the majors are pitchers.
The Sox most famous alumnus might be Seattle Mariners southpaw Marco Gonzales. After pitching for the AppleSox in 2010, Gonzales went on to a decorated career at Gonzaga before being drafted in 2013 by the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2019, he not only started both the Mariners’ season opener in Tokyo, Japan, but also the home opener at T-Mobile Park. He won both outings.
Gonzales and fellow southpaw alum Tommy Milone both earned Opening Day starts in 2020, marking the first time that two former AppleSox players earned Opening Day starts on the mound.
Just three days into the start of the 2020 season, 2012 alum Taylor Jones and 2014 alum Brandon Bailey both made their MLB debuts for the Houston Astros. 2012 alum James Kaprielian (Aug. 16) and 2014 alum Drew Rasmussen (Aug. 19) both debuted in the same week to make 2020 the season with the most AppleSox alum MLB debuts. That season tied 2014 for the year with the most AppleSox alum major-league debuts.
This season the AppleSox have already sent two former players to the big leagues as Casey Legumina made his MLB debut on April 15 with the Cincinnati Reds and Alek Jacob appeared in his first big-league game on July 15 for the San Diego Padres. Legumina became the third member of the 2016 AppleSox to appear in a major-league game, joining Michael Toglia of the Colorado Rockies and Ryan Kreidler of the Detroit Tigers.
Two AppleSox players have won World Series rings in their pro careers. First, Clayton Mortensen won one as a member of the 2013 Boston Red Sox and then Hammel won one with the 2016 Chicago Cubs.
When you go to an AppleSox game, you might not know everyone’s name, but you should learn to remember them because you never know when you might hear about them again someday!
AppleSox in the Pros, 2023 (as of april 14), year(s) w/ Sox
MLB
Griffin Canning, Los Angeles Angels, 2014
Marco Gonzales, Seattle Mariners, Seattle Mariners, 2010
James Kaprielian, Oakland Athletics, 2012
Ryan Kreidler, Detroit Tigers, 2016
Casey Legumina, Minnesota Twins, 2016
Tommy Milone, Seattle Mariners, 2006
Drew Rasmussen, Tampa Bay Rays, 2014
Triple-A
Trenton Brooks, Las Vegas Aviators (Oakland Athletics), 2014
Keston Hiura, Nashville Sounds (Milwaukee Brewers), 2015
Taylor Jones, Salt Lake Bees (Los Angeles Angels), 2012
Michael Toglia, Albuquerque Isotopes (Colorado Rockies), 2016
Pat Valaika, Tacoma Rainiers (Seattle Mariners), 2011
Zack Weiss, Salt Lake Bees, (Los Angeles Angels), 2010
Double-A
Matt Fraizer, Altoona Curve, (Pittsburgh Pirates), 2016
Alek Jacob, San Antonio Missions (San Diego Padres), 2017
J.T. Schwartz, Binghamton Rumble Ponies (New York Mets), 2018
High-A
Brhet Bowley, Quad Cities River Bandits (Kansas City Royals), 2015
Joel Condreay, Spokane Indians (Colorado Rockies), 2017
Mac Lardner, Lansing Lugnuts (Oakland Athletics), 2016
Ryan Long, Aberdeen IronBird (Baltimore Orioles), 2019
Troy Stainbrook, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Washington Nationals), 2018
Jeremy Wu-Yelland, Greenville Drive (Boston Red Sox), 2018
Jeremy Ydens, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Washington Nationals), 2016
Josh Zamora, Beloit Sky Carp (Miami Marlins), 2017
Single-A
Brett Gillis, Fayetteville Woodpeckers (Houston Astros), 2019
Nate Hadley, Fresno Grizzlies (Colorado Rockies), 2014
Torin Montgomery, Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins), 2019
Rookie
Blake Klassen, FCL Nationals (Washington Nationals), 2019
Independent
Gavin Gorrell, Boise Hawks, Pioneer League, 2019 & 2021
Jordan Rathbone, Northern Colorado Owlz, 2015-16, 2018