Four former West Virginia baseball players make 2024 MLB Opening Day rosters
By Joseph Smith
The 2024 MLB Opening Day took place on Thursday, March 28, as the majority of major league teams got their season underway. This season, four former West Virginia baseball players made an opening day roster. Check out below who made which roster, and how they performed if they saw action.
Michael Grove, Pitcher -- Los Angeles Dodgers
Grove is a West Virginia native who graduated from Wheeling Park High School. Grove played his freshman and sophomore collegiate seasons at WVU before undergoing Tommy John Surgery in 2017. Despite redshirting the 2018 season and not having played in over 13 months, Grove was selected by the Dodgers in the 2018 MLB Draft.
Grove saw his first action outside the minor leagues in 2022 for the Dodgers -- since then he registered time in 26 games, starting in 18 of them. He has tossed 99 strikeouts in that time and owns a 3-3 win-loss record and 5.92 career ERA.
Grove saw action before opening day as the Dodgers participated in last week’s Seoul Series, kicking off the season in South Korea. He pitched two innings in a 15-11 loss to San Diego, giving up six hits and four runs.
Alek Manoah, Pitcher -- Toronto Blue Jays
A Homestead, Fla. native, Manoah is one of two former MLB All-Stars on this list. Manoah played three seasons in Morgantown from 2017-2019, and was unanimously named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year during his junior season.
Manoah was drafted 11th overall by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2019, an organization he is still a member of. After his first promotion to the major league, he quickly found success. He was named an All-Star and All MLB First-Team in 2022, but was the focus of some controversy last season as he struggled on the mound and was optioned to a minor league program, where he refused to report.
However, Manoah is on the opening day roster for Toronto in 2024, and looks to rebound this year. He pitched 34 pitches in a simulated game on Wednesday, but will begin the season on the 15-day Injured List to allow for extra rehab to an injured shoulder. He has started all 70 games he’s seen action in, and has a win-loss record of 28-18. He boasts 386 career strikeouts and a career ERA of 3.32.
John Means, Pitcher -- Baltimore Orioles
Hailing from Olathe, Ks, Means is another former All-Star, earning the honor during the 2019 season. He also holds the distinction of pitching one of just 322 no-hitter games in MLB history, which he achieved on May 5, 2021.
Means spent his sophomore and junior collegiate seasons at WVU from 2013-2014, and was an 11th-round selection by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2014 MLB Draft.
Means made his debut in the majors in 2018, and has since played in 74 games and started 69 for the Orioles. He has tallied 318 strikeouts and a 3.74 ERA over six seasons in the MLB, with a 21-26 overall win-loss record. Means was placed on the 15-day Injured List to start the 2024 season.
Victor Scott II, Outfielder -- St. Louis Cardinals
Victor Scott is making his debut on a major league roster this season. Scott, an Atlanta, Ga. native, played three seasons at WVU from 2020-2022 before being drafted in the 2022 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Scott was selected to the All-Star Futures game in 2023 to represent his program, and won one of three Rawlings Gold Glove Awards awarded to the top defensive players in the minor leagues. He was the starting center fielder on Thursday for the Cardinals in a 7-1 loss to the Dodgers, where he went 0-3 at the plate but managed to snag his first-ever stolen base in the majors.