Baseball

Three ProHogs Advance to MLB Postseason

Oliver Grigg
Oliver Grigg October 7, 2023
ProHogs

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Three former Razorbacks are in this year’s Major League Baseball playoffs.

Outfielder Heston Kjerstad (Baltimore Orioles), catcher James McCann (Baltimore Orioles) and pitcher Ryne Stanek (Houston Astros) will have a shot at hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy with their respective teams this postseason.

Kjerstad, who played at Arkansas from 2018-20, made his debut with Baltimore on Sept. 14 and was included on the team’s 26-man American League Division Series roster. The Orioles’ third-ranked prospect, who was selected with the second overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft, has two home runs and three RBI over the first 13 games of his big league career.

McCann, who played for the Razorbacks from 2009-11, has hit six homers and driven in 26 runs while providing strong defense behind the dish over 69 games for the Orioles this season. McCann, Kjerstad and Baltimore take on the Texas Rangers in a best-of-five series, which is set to begin on Saturday, Oct. 7.

Stanek, who pitched for the Razorbacks from 2011-13, was a key piece of the bullpen for Houston’s World Series champion squad in 2022. This season, Stanek has logged a 3-1 record with a 4.09 ERA and 51 strikeouts over 50.2 innings of relief work. Stanek and the Astros square off against the Minnesota Twins in the best-of-five ALDS round, which also begins on Saturday, Oct. 7.

Six former Hogs have won a World Series title. Dick Hughes (St. Louis Cardinals, 1967), Eric Hinske (Boston Red Sox, 2007/New York Yankees, 2009), Dallas Keuchel (Houston, 2017), Andrew Benintendi (Boston, 2018), Drew Smyly (Atlanta Braves, 2021) and Stanek (Houston, 2022) have each hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Arkansas is the only NCAA program to produce a World Series champion — Smyly and Stanek — in each of the last two MLB seasons.

Stay up-to-date on all of this year’s MLB postseason action at www.mlb.com/postseason.

For complete coverage of Arkansas baseball, follow the Hogs on Twitter (@RazorbackBSB), Instagram (@RazorbackBSB) and Facebook (Arkansas Razorback Baseball).

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