The Cleveland Guardians outfield has been in flux of late, due in part to injuries – including one to former JMU star Chase DeLauter.
Those transitions created an opening for outfielder Kahlil Watson, who was called up on June 17 from Triple-A Columbus after DeLauter went on the injured list.
When Watson made his MLB debut the next day, he became just the second player born in Chase City to play in the Majors – and it came 100 years and nearly two months after the first one.
Watson, according to baseballreference.com, was born in Chase City on April 16, 2003. He was a first-round pick by the Miami Marlins in 2021 out of Wake Forest High, across the state line in North Carolina, and was traded to Cleveland in 2023.
The first native of Chase City to reach the majors was Rufus Meadows, on April 23, 1926 – but he did not last long.
Pitching for the Cincinnati Reds, he faced just one batter, Cliff Heathcotte, to end the sixth inning in a game with the Chicago Cubs. The Reds lost 18-1 to a team that featured future Hall of Fame slugger Hack Wilson of the Cubs.
“Meadows’ chief distinction is that he is the only pitcher in Major League history to have faced one and only one batter in his career. This record was broken by Larry Yount in 1971, who faced zero batters in his only career appearance after suffering an injury during warm-up pitches,” according to baseballreference.com in 2019.
That would be the only big-league game that Meadows appeared in, though he did spend 14 seasons in the minors. Meadows died in 1970 in Wichita and is buried there, per baseballreference.com.
The pitcher began his minor league career in Petersburg in 1924 and ended up with Little Rock in 1939, posting a mark of 147-151 overall. His sojourn through the minors included a stop with Wichita in 1930. The best season for Meadows was with Tyler, Texas, in 1937 when he won 25 games.
Another pitcher for the Reds 100 years ago was Culpeper native Eppa Rixey, who grew up in Charlottesville, pitched in college for Virginia and won 266 games en route to a Hall of Fame induction in 1963.
Another Virginia native who played in the Majors in 1926 was Larry Woodall, who was born in Staunton in 1895 and was a catcher in MLB from 1920-1929.
Welcome to The Show
Watson is the fourth native of Virginia to break into The Show this year. The other three as of July 1 were:
- Richmond native TJ Rumfield, who went to Virginia Tech and made his debut March 27 with the Colorado Rockies as a pitcher under manager Warren Schaeffer, who starred at Virginia Tech.
- Newport News native Trey Gibson, a Liberty University standout, broke in with the Baltimore Orioles on May 3, also on the mound. The Baltimore manager is Craig Albernaz, who played for Woodstock in the Valley Baseball League.
- Brian Morabito, who grew up in McLean, was called up the New York Mets in late May. His father, also Brian, was a baseball standout at JMU.
Last season, seven players born in the state broke into the Majors. In 2023, the number was eight – the most in more than 20 years.
Michael Tucker was born in South Boston and went to high school in Skipwith – about eight miles from where Watson was born in Chase City.
Tucker was drafted in the first round out of Longwood in 1992 by the Kansas City Royals and played as an outfielder in the majors from 1995 to 2006.
A lefty hitter, Tucker ended his career with the Mets on a team that included three other Virginia high school products: reliever Billy Wagner (Tazewell), who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year; third baseman David Wright (Hickory) and pitcher John Maine, who went to North Stafford.
DeLauter, a West Virginia high school product and first-round pick by Cleveland, came off the IL on June 28 while Watson stayed with the Guardians.
The lefty slugger and Frederick, Maryland, native hit .269 with seven homers in his first 249 at-bats this year while Watson hit his first MLB homer on June 23 at the Chicago White Sox and hit .263 in his first 38 MLB at-bats. Early in his pro career, Watson played second and short in the minors before moving to the outfield.
The Cleveland pitching coach is Carl Willis, who was born in Danville and starred in college at UNC Wilmington before pitching in the Majors.
RCBL update
Besides DeLauter, the other former Rockingham County Baseball League players who have played in the Majors since 2024 are Will Wagner (Liberty), Brenton Doyle (Shepherd) and Brenan Hanifee, who pitched at Turner Ashby High.
Wagner is now with the San Diego Padres. He began the year on the IL, and hit .255 in his first 110 at-bats this year with Triple-A El Paso. In his first 35 at-bats with San Diego this year he was batting .257 before being sent back to El Paso on June 29. The San Diego manager is former Washington Nationals pitcher Craig Stammen, who played in Woodbridge while in the minors.
Doyle, the center fielder for the Colorado Rockies, had an average of .207 in his first 111 trips to the plate and has dealt with injuries.
Hanifee has split time between the bullpen of the Detroit Tigers and Triple-A Toledo. He was sent to Toledo on June 12; Hanifee had an ERA of 3.29 in his first 14 appearances this year for the Tigers and an ERA of 5.40 in his first 17 outings with Toledo.
News and notes
Billy Wagner, who starred at Tazewell High and Ferrum, will be the pitching coach for the American League in the Futures Game on July 12. The manager will be Larry Bowa, a former shortstop and manager for the Philadelphia Phillies. The hitting coach will be Milt Thompson, a former MLB outfielder who starred in college at Howard University in D.C. after growing up in the Maryland suburbs. Wagner has been the head coach for several years at the Miller School of Albemarle.
One of the pitchers for the American League will be Baltimore Orioles prospect Joseph Dzierwa, 22, who is from Toledo, Ohio, and has played this year for Double-A Chesapeake in the Eastern League after starting out with Single-A Frederick. In 15 total games, with 13 starts, he is 7-2 with an ERA of 2.48. He was a second-round pick by the Orioles last year out of Michigan State.
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David Driver
