Lauer progressing with Padres

Midview graduate among four players from area in pro baseball this summer

There are four Morning Journal area players playing professional baseball across the major and minor leagues.

With the second half of the baseball season getting underway, here’s a look at how each of those players fared during the first half:

Eric Lauer

HIGH SCHOOL » Midview COLLEGE » Kent State University CURRENT TEAM » San Diego Padres Lauer, 23, made his MLB debut on April 24 when he was called up from the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas. He pitched three innings in an 8-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies, yielding six earned runs on six hits and four walks while recording three strikeouts.

Currently, Lauer is 5-6 for the Padres. He earned his first win on May 6 in a 3-0 shutout of the L.A. Dodgers, throwing seven scoreless innings with seven hits, one walk and five strikeouts.

For the season, the lefthanded pitcher has a 4.87 ERA with 67 strikeouts in 77 2/3 innings pitched.

He recently struck out a season-high eight batters in a near-complete game effort against the Dodgers July 10. His final line for that game included four hits, two walks and one earned run in 8 2/3 innings.

“I feel like I had really good command of all my pitches and it’s the first time I really had four, five pitches working,” Lauer said after the game.

Lauer was drafted 25th overall by the Padres in the 2016 MLB Draft after finishing his junior season at Kent State with a 0.69 ERA — the lowest in college baseball since 1979.

The Padres (40-59) are currently fifth in the NL West at the All-Star break.

Ryan Rua

HIGH SCHOOL » Amherst COLLEGE » Lake Erie College CURRENT TEAM » Texas Rangers Rua, 28, has played in 49 games for the Rangers this season, primarily in left field, but has spent some time in right and center field as well as at first base. He has 22 hits in 116 at-bats this season for a .190 batting average and has a .221 OBP and .353 slugging percentage.

Rua has only two multihit games this season, most recently a three-hit performance July 1 against the Chicago White Sox. He went 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored in the 10-5 loss.

In the Rangers’ final game before the All-Star break, Rua went 1-for-4 in a 6-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles after leading his team to a series-opening win when he hit his first pinch-hit home run of his career — a three-run shot to give the Rangers a 5-4 win July 13.

The Rangers (41-56) are currently fifth in the AL West at the All-Star break.

Brandyn Sittinger

HIGH SCHOOL » Keystone COLLEGE » Ashland University CURRENT TEAM » Lakeland Flying Tigers

Sittinger, 24, was called up from the Low-A West Michigan Whitecaps in late June and made his debut with the Flying Tigers on June 29. The righthanded reliever threw 1/3 innings in his first official outing with High-A Lakeland, striking out the lone batter he faced.

Sittinger has come out strong in his five appearances with the Flying Tigers. In July, he’s thrown 8 2/3 innings of relief with a 2.08 ERA, seven hits, four walks and 11 strikeouts, and had his best showing in a one-hit, five-strikeout performance in a 5-4 win over Fort Myers July 15.

Sittinger was drafted 505th overall after his junior season at Ashland by the Detroit Tigers in the 2016 MLB Draft. In his final season, he finished 11-0 with a 2.23 ERA in 14 appearances.

He totaled 131 strikeouts and 40 walks in 88 2/3 innings pitched and was named a Division II first-team All-American.

Xavier Moore

HIGH SCHOOL » Amherst CURRENT TEAM » AZL Rangers

Moore, 19, made his first appearance of 2018 with the AZL Rangers on July 5, throwing 2/3 innings and recording a strikeout.

He’s made three appearances in relief and given up only one hit in 3 2/3 innings of work, compiling a 0.00 ERA, four strikeouts and two walks.

Moore was drafted 494th overall by the Texas Rangers in the 2017 MLB Draft. He passed up a scholarship to Ohio State to begin his professional career after a stellar senior season at Amherst. In 2017, he finished with a 0.31 ERA and 86 strikeouts and added a .359 batting average, 28 hits and 21 RBI. In two seasons with the Comets, he posted a 0.90 ERA with 121 strikeouts.

ALEX GALLARDO — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS San Diego Padres starting pitcher Eric Lauer delivers to a Chicago Cubs batter during the first inning in San Diego on July 15.

PATRICK SEMANSKY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Texas Rangers’ Ryan Rua, right, rounds the bases past third base coach Tony Beasley after hitting a three-run home run in the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles on July 13 in Baltimore.