In any other year, Michael Lorenzen coming home to play with the Los Angeles Angels likely would constitute the biggest off-season move by a Cal State Fullerton baseball alum in the majors. You’ve got a hard-throwing, versatile, two-way-if-you-need-him player returning home to a team sorely in need of his right arm and skill set.
Yes, in any other year, Lorenzen playing for the team he grew up following and playing for a team willing to put him in the starting rotation — unlike his previous team, the Cincinnati Reds — would make the biggest splash in the always-followed world of Titan Baseball Nation.
Except for Mark Kotsay.
Last December, Kotsay was named manager of the Oakland Athletics. This inevitable move, long in coming given Kotsay’s status as a hot managerial prospect, made Kotsay the first Titan to manage a major league team.
When the 46-year-old Kotsay took over from former manager and mentor Bob Melvin, who took the helm of the San Diego Padres, he became the sixth-youngest manager in the majors. Given the fact Kotsay played 17 years in the majors and coached for another seven and given the fact he interviewed five times for managerial positions over the past three years, Kotsay’s ascension was as overdue as it was welcome among Cal State Fullerton alums and baseball fans.
“I played for seven different teams, seven different organizations, and really this is my organization that I call home,” he said on the Athletics’ Twitter account after his appointment. “When people talk about my playing career, the reflection is generally, ‘Mark Kotsay’s A’s years,’ and I couldn’t be happier about that. I couldn’t be more excited about being chosen as the 31st manager … My family started here … This is home and I couldn’t be more excited.”
The 2022 major league season began late, due to the lockout. But once it did, it began with seven Titans on Opening Day major league rosters. That’s tied for seventh with Louisville, LSU and Texas A&M among universities. And the tally of Titans with major league experience on their resumes now sits at 71, a two-player bump from this time last year.
That came courtesy of Justin Garza’s promotion to the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) roster last June and Connor Seabold’s call-up by the Boston Red Sox last September. That extended the path started by Dan Whitmer on July 20, 1980.
Lorenzen’s move west and Kotsay’s move north on the A’s organization chart weren’t the only major moves among Cal State Fullerton baseball alums this off-season. There’s three-time Gold Glove-winning third baseman Matt Chapman moving east. The former Titan shortstop/third baseman, who is considered the best fielder at any position in the majors, won’t be at Kotsay’s disposal this year after getting traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in mid-March.
Last year, Chapman smashed 27 home runs, drove in another 72 and scored 75 runs. None of those numbers account for his clubhouse leadership, one of the prime reasons the Blue Jays traded for him. Last year, the A’s opened the season 0-for-6, which prompted Chapman to remind his teammates during a pregame speech they were better than this.
His teammates listened. The A’s won their next 13 games.
After signing a two-year extension worth $25 million, Chapman received his third Gold Glove with the A’s in town earlier this month. Kotsay was there to greet him with a hug on the field at Rogers Centre. Three games into his Blue Jays career, Chapman blasted a 432-foot, three-run home run off the Rangers’ Spencer Howard. It was his first hit as a Blue Jay.
Lorenzen also made a splash with his new team. Injured for most of 2021, Lorenzen was eager to right the ship in a new port. Finally healthy again, Lorenzen won his first game with the Angels earlier this month, holding the Miami Marlins to two hits and a run over six innings. He struck out seven and showed why he should thrive in his new environment.
Waiting for Lorenzen was another Titan: catcher Kurt Suzuki, who began his second season with the Angels. The 16-year MLB veteran hit .224 with six home runs, 16 RBI and 17 runs as starting catcher Max Stassi’s backup last year. When the Angels re-signed him to a one-year, $1.75 million deal, it was the team’s first personnel move coming out of the lockout. He’s expected to be Shohei Ohtani’s personal catcher once again.
Suzuki jumped off to a better start in 2022. He’s batting .333 with a homer in three games.
One of Suzuki’s teammates on the Titans’ last College World Series team in 2004, Justin Turner, is back with the Dodgers. The third baseman and one of the team’s anchors opened his ninth season with the Dodgers coming out of another typical Turner year. He socked 27 home runs, drove in 87 and scored 87 times. That came with a .278 average in 151 games.
Eventually, Turner will likely face the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Noé Ramirez this season. The right-handed reliever opened his second year with the Diamondbacks. Last year, Ramirez went 0-2 with a 2.76 ERA and 29 strikeouts and a sterling WHIP (walks plus hits in innings pitched) of .088. This year, Ramirez has yet to give up a run in his four games through Sunday. He’s struck out four and allowed only one hit in 4.1 innings.
When Arizona plays the New York Mets, Ramirez could face J.D. Davis. Last year, the third baseman/outfielder somehow batted .285 despite playing much of the year with a torn ligament in his hand. That robbed him of much of his power, which explains the five home runs and 23 RBI. Davis had off-season surgery and his versatility, combined with the National League adding the designated hitter, should mean more opportunities for Davis to see the field.
Mets manager Buck Showalter told the New York Post, “He’s gonna get the at-bats.”
Then there’s journeyman catcher Dustin Garneau, who entered his second year with the Detroit Tigers. He got into only 20 games with the Tigers last year and as the team’s No. 3 catcher, will struggle for at-bats. Last year, Garneau made what opportunities he got count. He hit six home runs and drove in 11 in only 20 games. All six of his home runs came in a nine-game span when starting catcher Eric Haase was injured.
Regardless, it was a wild 2021 for Garneau, who signed a minor league contract with the Tigers in December 2020. He was stuck in Triple-A Toledo behind rookies Haase and Jake Rogers, so Garneau opted out of his contract and re-signed with the Colorado Rockies. In 2009, the Rockies originally drafted Garneau in the 19th round. But on Aug. 18, the Rockies shipped him back to Detroit in a trade.
Along with those seven, four former players join Kotsay on coaching staffs. Phil Nevin joined the Angels as manager Joe Maddon’s third-base coach. Matt Wise serves as the Angels’ bullpen coach, the same position Mike Harkey holds for Nevin’s former team, the New York Yankees. P.J. Pilittere left the Yankees and joined the Rockies as their assistant hitting coach.
Did you know…? Matt Chapman’s two-year, $25 million contract extension with the Toronto Blue Jays buys out his last two years of arbitration. Yet, Chapman can become a free agent after the 2023 season. The contract came with a $1 million signing bonus and $12 million salary in 2022 and 2023. The deal came six days after the A’s traded Chapman to the Blue Jays.