February 12, 2019
With about a week left until college baseball programs kick off their 2019 campaigns, D1Baseball.com released its list of Top 350 College Prospects for the 2019 MLB Draft throughout the country.
Among the list of top collegiate prospects are seven former St. Cloud Rox players. They are: Michael Busch (2017), Nick Morreale (2017), John Matthews (2017-18), Cameron Eden (2017), Evan Johnson (2018), Shane Selman (2017) and Brent Killam (2017).
Let’s take a look at how each of those former Rox players ranked on the list and recap their time in St. Cloud with your Rox:
No. 15 – Michael Busch, North Carolina (2017 Rox infielder)
Coming in at No. 15 on the Top 350 list is Michael Busch, who played in one season in St. Cloud during the 2017 championship year.
During his time with the Rox, Busch played in 49 games, where he tallied a batting average of .291 along with 43 hits, 31 runs scored, a team-high 17 doubles, one triple, four home runs, 28 RBI and two stolen bases.
Busch is currently in his junior season at North Carolina after hitting .317 and leading the Tar Heels with 13 home runs and 63 RBI in 2018 as a sophomore.
No. 108 – Nick Morreale, Georgetown (2017 Rox pitcher)
Coming in at No. 108 on the list is Nick Morreale, who appeared in one summer on the mound in St. Cloud in 2017 during the championship campaign.
With the Rox, Morreale appeared in two games on the hill for the Rox, pitching a total of 9.1 innings as a starting pitcher. During that stretch, he gave up 10 hits and just five earned runs while striking out nine batters. In the 2017 postseason, Morreale made one appearance on the mound, where he threw two shutout innings and struck out one.
Morreale is a junior right-hander at Georgetown in 2019 after appearing in 21 games and making five starts on the mound during the 2018 season.
No. 128 – John Matthews, Kent State (2017-18 Rox pitcher)
Coming in at No. 128 on the Top 350 list is John Matthews, who played in two straight seasons in St. Cloud during the summers of 2017 and 2018.
In 2017, Matthews made appearances both on the mound and at the plate for the Rox. On the mound, he made 12 relief appearances to grab an ERA of 2.20 in 16.1 innings, giving up 18 hits, four earned runs and striking out 13. At the plate, he hit .206 with 13 hits and five RBI.
In 2018, the right-handed pitcher appeared in 10 games on the hill, throwing a total of 45.1 innings with an ERA of 2.18. Matthews gave up 28 hits, 11 earned runs and struck out 53 with a record of 3-2. On July 10 against Waterloo, Matthews tied the Rox single-game record with 13 strikeouts in a win.
Matthews is a junior at Kent State in 2019 after totaling 28.2 innings with 38 strikeouts out of the bullpen in 2018.
No. 179 – Cameron Eden, California-Berkeley (2017 Rox infielder)
Coming in at No. 179 on the list is Cameron Eden, who was a part of the 2017 championship team in St. Cloud.
With the Rox, Eden tallied a batting average of .263 in 56 games as an infielder. He finished with 55 hits, 32 runs scored, nine doubles, one triple, four home runs, 29 RBI and eight stolen bases. In the 2017 postseason, Eden played in five games and hit .273 for the Rox, tallying six hits, one double, one home run, three RBI and one stolen base.
Eden is a junior at California-Berkeley in 2019 after he played in 44 games with 42 starts, all at shortstop, as a sophomore in 2018. He was also ranked the No. 11 Senior Prospect by D1Baseball.com.
No. 259 – Evan Johnson, Creighton (2018 Rox pitcher)
Coming in at No. 259 on the Top 350 list is Evan Johnson, who played in St. Cloud in 2018 and was named a team Co-MVP during the summer.
With the Rox, Johnson was lights out on the mound in 14 appearances, grabbing a record of 5-0 with an ERA of 1.80 in a total of 60 innings pitched. He gave up just 12 earned runs and struck out 57 batters on the hill.
The right-hander is in his senior season at Creighton in 2019 after he appeared in 13 games and finished with a record of 2-1 in 2018.
No. 280 – Shane Selman, McNeese State (2017 Rox outfielder)
Coming in at No. 280 on the list is Shane Selman, who played in St. Cloud in 2017 and was a part of the championship team. No. 19
With the Rox, Selman earned 2017 Northwoods League All-Star honors after appearing in a total of 45 games and finished with a batting average of .296. He tallied 53 hits, 34 runs, 15 doubles, one triple, a team-best six home runs, 31 RBI and four stolen bases.
Selman is in his senior campaign at McNeese State in 2019 after he recorded a .273 batting average in 57 games as a junior in 2018. He was also ranked as the No. 19 Senior Prospect by D1Baseball.com.
No. 297 – Brent Killam, Georgetown (2017 Rox pitcher)
Coming in at No. 297 on the Top 350 list is Brent Killam, who was a part of the 2017 championship team in St. Cloud in 2017.
With the Rox, Killam put together a stellar season on the mound and earned a spot in the 2017 Northwoods League All-Star Game, appearing in 21 games and finishing with a team-best ERA of 0.37 in 24.1 innings. He gave up just 11 hits, one run, two walks and struck out 42 to grab a record of 5-0 with nine saves. He still holds the single-season franchise records in ERA (0.37), WHIP (0.53) and K/9 (15.53).
Killam is a junior at Georgetown in 2019 after the left-hander earned an All-Big East second team selection and made nine appearances on the mound for Georgetown in 2018.
To view the full list of Top 350 College Prospects in its entirety, you can click here.
Matt Warkentin Ranks No. 48 on Senior Prospect List
Matt Warkentin, a former Rox infielder who was a part of the 2017 championship team, was ranked as the No. 48 senior on the Senior Prospect list by D1Baseball.com.
Warkentin appeared in nine games for the Rox during the summer of 2017, tallying a batting average of .138 with four runs scored, one double and two RBI.
Warkentin is in his final collegiate season at Xavier in 2019 after appearing in 54 games and leading the team and Big East with 14 home runs in 2018 as a junior.
The Rox will open their eighth season of Northwoods League baseball in 2019. The Rox home opener is Saturday, June 1 at 7:05 p.m., featuring post-game fireworks presented by Coborn’s. To view and download the full 2019 Rox schedule, click here. For more information regarding this release, 7-Game Packs, season tickets or partial season ticket packages for the 2019 season, please contact the Rox front office at 320-240-9798 or visit www.stcloudrox.com.
The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rox as your favorite team.
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