Tag: Sooners in MLB

Former Sooners Cody Thomas and Sheldon Neuse both involved in trade

Two former Sooners were traded for one another on Friday with Cody Thomas headed to Oakland and Sheldon Neuse off to Los Angeles.

A fun MLB trade for Oklahoma fans went down on Friday as two former Sooners were dealt for one another. Outfielder Cody Thomas and infielder Sheldon Neuse are switching teams, with Thomas heading to the Oakland Athletics and Neuse going to the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Thomas played two seasons in Norman, while also being a quarterback for the football team, batting .279 and hitting six home runs with 28 RBI. Since being drafted by the Dodgers in 2016, he has done some good things in the minor leagues making his rise up to the Double-A affiliate Tulsa Drillers. He is yet to make his MLB debut.

Neuse, meanwhile, has broken through to the big leagues with the Athletics. After being drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2016, he was dealt to Oakland almost exactly one year later. He made his MLB debut in 2019 appearing in 25 games batting .250 with 7 RBI.

Now, these two former Sooners teammates are swapping home cities. Both teams are set to play their in their first spring training game in just over two weeks on Feb. 27th.

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Former Oklahoma pitcher Garrett Richards signs one-year deal with Boston Red Sox

Former Oklahoma pitcher Garrett Richards signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

Former Oklahoma pitcher Garrett Richards will be heading to his third different club as he enters his 11th MLB season.

Richards signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi.

Richards spent the last two seasons with the San Diego Padres after being with the Los Angeles Angels from 2011-2018. Over his ten years in the big leagues, he has started 187 games going 47-41 with a 3.62 ERA.

After a promising start to his career, injuries started to plague him in 2016 as Richards was only able to make six starts in each of the 2016 and 2017 seasons. After starting only three games in 2019, he was able to find some consistent health as he was able to make ten starts and 14 appearances in the shortened 2020 campaign.

Now he goes to a Red Sox team that certainly could use the additional pitching. He should get his opportunity to make plenty of starts this season as long as he is able to remain healthy.

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Former Oklahoma P Jon Gray agrees to $6 million deal to stay with Colorado Rockies

Former Oklahoma pitcher Jon Gray has agreed to a one-year, $6 million deal to stay with the Colorado Rockies for the 2021 season.

A hot name on the always competitive starting-pitching market this MLB offseason has been former Oklahoma pitcher Jon Gray.

Gray has spent his entire six-year big league career with the Colorado Rockies, and it will be staying that way as he and the organization have agreed to a $6 million deal that will keep him in Denver.

Gray has been a solid piece of the Rockies’ rotation for over half of a decade now, tossing 680.1 innings with a 4.59 ERA in his 122 career starts. His 692 strikeouts are the fifth-most in Colorado franchise history with his 9.154 strikeouts per nine innings being the most of any Rockies pitcher all-time.

Pitching is always an extremely valuable commodity for all teams but especially for Colorado which has been a franchise that has struggled to keep good pitchers there long-term given the advantage hitters have in Denver. Gray, meanwhile, has elected to stay with the franchise that drafted him for at least one more season.

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