Where are they now?
Checking in on some local minor league baseball players:
• JJ Matijevic, who made a brief appearance in the majors with the Houston Astros two years ago, recently signed with Dorados de Chihuahua of the Mexican Baseball League.
Matijevic, a 28-year-old Norwin alum, played all of last season in Triple-A before his release. He played nearly two-and-a-half years at that level, mostly with the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.
In 529 career games in the minors, he is slashing .256/.335/.483 and has 97 home runs and 335 RBIs.
A corner infielder, designated hitter and outfielder, Matijevic received a World Series ring with the Astros in 2022 as bounced back and forth from Houston and Sugar Land.
The 75th pick in the 2017 draft, Matijevic batted 67 times with the Astros and had 14 hits, including two homers. His first two MLB hits were home runs.
He traveled with the team during the World Series.
• Catcher Max McDowell (Norwin) is one level away from the “Show” as he plays for the Buffalo Bisons, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Triple-A team.
McDowell, 30, is 5 for 28 in 12 games (.179), but homered in his first game of the season.
He played for three teams last season, starting out with Reading (Double-A), then Lehigh Valley (Triple-A) before landing with Buffalo late in the year.
• Latrobe’s Zach Kokoska in is his third season as a professional, playing for the Hartford Yard Goats, the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
Kokoska, 25, rehabbed a broken hand to return to action.
In 14 games this season, he was hitting .292 with three home runs and 16 RBIs.
He is a lifetime .283 hitter over 202 games in minors.
• Kokoska’s former high school teammate, Jared Kollar, is pitching in Double-A with the San Antonio Missions.
A free-agent pickup by the San Diego Padres, the 25-year-old Latrobe product is 2-1 this season with a 3.00 ERA in five games (18 innings). He has 17 strikeouts and three walks.
Kollar played his final season of college baseball a Rutgers after four years at Seton Hill.
