St. John’s baseball: Trio of former Johnnies make Opening Day rosters
A handful of former St. John’s baseball players have made Opening Day rosters for their respective Major League Baseball teams.
Opening Day across Major League Baseball is finally here and St. John’s fans will get to see some of their former Johnnies in action once again.
The first former Johnnie that will take the diamond did not play at the famous Jack Kaiser Stadium in Queens, rather he took his place on campus at Carnesecca Arena and Madison Square Garden.
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Amir Garrett was named to the Cincinnati Reds 30-man Opening Day roster as teams are allowed to carry more players at the start of the season because of the short Summer Training teams took part in.
Garrett will be taking part in his fourth season with the Reds at the Major League level and is hoping to continue to improve as his ERA has improved in each season he’s stepped on the mound.
The Reds will open the season at home against the Detroit Tigers at 6:10pm EST.
Minutes after the first pitch is thrown at Great American Ball Park, there will be baseball at Tropicana Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida and newly minted Toronto Blue Jay Joe Panik will be taking the field.
Panik, who spent the end of last season back in Queens with the New York Mets after being released from the San Francisco Giants, is now on his third different team in his Major League career.
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The former World Series Champion hit .244 last season with his two teams and his new team finally has a ballpark to play in as the Blue Jays will be playing its home games in Buffalo, New York following denials to play in its home stadium in Toronto and to share PNC Park with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
First pitch between the Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays is at 6:40pm EST.
And making his first ever Opening Day roster is Cody Stashak of the Minnesota Twins.
Stashak made his Major League debut back on July 23, 2019 against the New York Yankees and threw two scoreless innings and remained with the team through the regular season.
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That debut season paired with a strong Spring and Summer Training earned Cody Stashak a spot on the Twins roster as the team looks to repeat as American League Central Champions.
Stashak and the Twins will get things started at 8:10pm EST against the Chicago White Sox.
According Jaden Daly of Daly Dose of Hoops, this season marks the 51st straight season that a former St. John’s baseball player will make an appearance in a Major League game, an amazing feat for what is considered a “cold weather baseball school”.