2025 MEDIA INTERNSHIPS POSTED ON MEDIA/INTERN SHIPS TAB

SILVER SPRING, October 23—Media internships for the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts in the upcoming 2025 Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League season have been posted on the Media/Interns tan of the top menu.

Positions for play-by-play broadcasters, social media leads, and online beat writers are available for applicants. The deadline date for applications is January 15, 2025.

Selection will be made soon thereafter.

The internships provide an opportunity for budding sports broadcasters, writers, and social media experts to gain valuable experience covering a baseball team day in and day out over the two-month 36-game season.

Go to the Media/Intern tab on the top menu for further information and good luck.

FORMER THUNDERBOLT POSITION PLAYERS IN THE MINORS AND INDY BALL FINISHD THEIR 2024 SEASONS. HOW DID THEY DO? WHAT NEXT?

SILVER SPRING, September 29—The Minor Leagues and Independent baseball teams will finish their season this week (or have already done so) and for the eleven former Thunderbolts who played in the field in both the minors and Independent baseball this season, it’s time to take stock of 2024 and plan for 2025.

For most of the seven position players, it was not a great season. Organizational roadblocks, injuries, and stats worked against them this year. As a result, the 2024 season could be a major turning point in their professional careers.

NICK DUNN, 2015
By far, the Thunderbolt with the best statistical season in 2024, was the University of Maryland’s Nick Dunn. In 31 games in 2015, Dunn hit .321 for the T-Bolts. He was taken in the fifth round of the 2018 MLB draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. He bounced around A, AA, and AAA ball until this year when he spent the whole season with the AAA Memphis Cardinals. The left-handed hitting infielder batted .316 with 19 doubles and eight home runs over 98 games. He had an impressive OPS of .842.

In two seasons of AAA ball, Dunn batted .311 with an OPS of .823. Additionally, he was named Player of the Month by The Cardinal Nation and the Cardinals organization in June 2023; Texas League Player of the Week in July of 2023; a New York-Penn League All-Star in 2018, and Cardinal Player of the Day just this past September 14.

One Cardinal observer said Dunn had nothing left to prove in the Minor Leagues. Others thought Dunn clearly deserved a shot at the Majors with St. Louis. At the very worst, some suggested he be part of a trade to another organization where he could have a chance at a call-up.

But at age 27, not on the Cards’ 40-man roster, and with at least seven players ahead of him on the St. Louis depth chart, Memphis released Dunn on September 26, just twelve days after he was named Cardinal Player of the Day.

When a door closes, another opens. With his release after six years in the Cardinal organization, Dunn is now free to try and hook on with an organization where he may have a path to the Major Leagues. So next season--if he continues to play--could be critical for the University of Maryland and Thunderbolt product.

COREY ROSIER, 2018-2019
Another former Thunderbolt active in the minors this season was outfielder Corey Rosier. Rosier hit a solid .265 in 31 games for SS-T in 2018, and in just eight games in 2019, he hit .269. He was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the twelfth round of the 2021 MLB draft. After a couple of trades, he found himself in the Boston Red Sox organization where he was pegged as a potential player off the bench.

In 2023, he split time between the Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs of the AA Eastern League and the Worcester Red Sox of the AAA International League. In Portland, he hit an impressive .285 in 104 games and scored 64 runs. He also hit seven home runs and drove in 39. He had a brief callup to Worcester where he got into 12 games and hit .282. In the fall, he had a successful stint in the Arizona Fall League where he had a respectable average of 258 and got some looks from officials in the Boston organization.

All that got him an invitation to spring training with the Red Sox at the start of the 2024 season. He did well in camp. But as expected, was assigned to Worcester where he hoped to continue his above average performance on the field. But he struggled offensively; at times, hitting below. 200, and he was put on the Development List. The Development List is a place where players can take time off from games and work with coaches to improve or just take a break and recalibrate.

Rosier was placed on the Development List twice by Worcester, and by mid-July was back at AA Portland. He spent most of July and August with Portland, but on September 10, was called up to Worcester for nine games where he hit .192.

Overall, his season stats were .177 in 54 games with Worcester, and .226 in 34 games with Portland. But Rosier is only 24 and is hoping to bounce back strong in 2025.

MATT MERVIS, 2016
One Thunderbolt who saw Major League action this season was former first baseman Matt Mervis. The lefty from Duke hit .411 for the Thunderbolts in 15 games before the Blue Devils shut down his CRCBL season. He was drafted by the Washington Nationals but eventually signed with the Chicago Cubs. He excelled in the minors and got his first call up to the Cubs in the spring of 2023. In 27 games, he hit .167 and struck out 32 times. He was sent back down to AAA Iowa where he finished out the season.

He got another call to the Cubs this season but his second sojourn in Wrigley lasted just nine games. He hit .115 and was quickly sent back to Iowa.

In July, Mervis suffered a hand injury and missed six and a half weeks. He returned to the Iowa lineup in late August. Overall, he played 81 games for Iowa, hit .235 with 15 home runs and 43 RBIs, but struck out 105 times.

Like Nick Dunn, Mervis finds himself blocked from another shot at Chicago with four left-handed hitters ahead of him on the Cubbies’ depth chart. He has also dropped down the Cubs’ Prospect list although he is still among the top 30. The Cubs have not traded him—yet—although that could work out to the benefit of both sides.

ERROL ROBINSON, 2013
The 2024 season didn’t end well for another Thunderbolt, former infielder Errol Robinson. Robinson was a member of the 2013 team and lit up the CRCBL with a .340 average in 13 games. The right-handed batter knocked in 11 runs and had an OPS of .819. Following his stint with the T-Bolts, Robinson played two seasons in the Cape Cod League. His best season in the Cape was in 2015 when he hit .312 for Hyannis. He played his college ball at Ole Miss and was drafted in the sixth round of the 2016 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He made it to AAA with the Dodgers in 2019 with Oklahoma City of the Pacific Coast League where he hit .220. He went back to Tulsa in the AA Texas League where he played 46 games and hit .310. He was traded to the Reds in 2020. He started in AAA for the Reds but fell back down to AA. He was released in 2021, played a year in Indy ball, but signed a minor league contract with the Springfield Cardinals in 2022. That season, he hit .269 in 39 games. He was released by the Cards in 2023.

In 2024, he signed a minor league contract with the Orioles, was invited to spring training as an extra player, got into some games, and did well but was assigned to the Norfolk Tides of the International League. He played 46 games before getting hurt in June. He briefly rehabbed in the Florida Complex League and was back with Norfolk by mid-July only to be released soon after by the Tides. He hit .208 for Norfolk in 2024.

Ini eight seasons in the minors, Errol hit .249. At 30, he may look for another season or two in the minors or in Independent ball or ponder moving over to coaching. We’ll keep an eye on Errol to see which direction the former Thunderbolt chooses.

LYLE MILLER-GREEN, 2019/2022
The most recent Thunderbolt to play in the minors was Lyle Miller-Green. The 24-year-old, who was born in Siberia, and was adopted by American parents, starred at Lake Braddock High School. He originally committed to George Mason but spent time at Chipola College, Oklahoma State, and Austin Peay. At Austin Peay, he set new college and Atlantic Sun Conference records for a single season and was named Atlantic Sun Player of the Year.

Green was a two-way player for the Thunderbolts, on the field and on the mound. In 2019, he played 20 games and hit .313 with an OPS of .802. He pitched in three games, went 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in four innings. He returned briefly in 2022 for a 13-game stint in which he hit .277. He pitched six innings in three games, going 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA.

He also played three successful seasons in the Cape Cod League, winning the Home Run Contest in 2022. He focused less on pitching, getting into only one game in 2023 where he pitched one scoreless inning.

The 24-year-old right hander was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the seventeenth round of this year’s draft. He was sent to the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in the Class A Carolina League where he appeared in 19 games, hitting .219, with four doubles and two home runs. He did strike out 26 times in 77 plate appearances, so the “Siberian Sultan of Swat” will be looking to tighten up that stat in 2025.

If LMG ever makes it to the Majors, MLB has his story already written. He would become the sixth Russian-born player to have played in the Major Leagues in the modern era. Just one—a right-handed pitcher named Victor Cole—pitched for the Pirates in 1992. Cole was born to an American father and a Russian mother in St. Petersburg and moved to the US when he was four.

And if Green wants to use his birth name--Oleg Sergevich Kornev—it would look great on a baseball card or a Fantasy League lineup.

IAN JENKINS, 2022
Ian will be familiar to Thunderbolt fans for his fantastic season in 2022. He appeared in 32 games, hit .305 with an OPS of .891, knocking in 31 runs on nine doubles and six home runs. He was a CRCBL All-Star that year.

He played his college ball at Lander University, Miami-Dade College, and the University of South Carolina. He was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the fortieth round of the 2017 MLB Draft but never signed. Instead, he continued to play college baseball.

Unfortunately for Ian, his college career was plagued with injuries. In three seasons, he only played 66 games, getting just 240 appearances at the plate. He ended up hitting .265 with a .338 OBP.

After college, Jenkins used his smarts to enter the entrepreneurial world by setting up his own company, Ian Jenkins Hitting LLC. He expanded into the online world, teaching batting on his site, ian-jenkins-hitting.com. His X feed has nearly 5,000 followers and his Tik Tok videos reach over 100,000 viewers.

He entered the professional baseball world on February 1, signing with the Oakland Ballers of the independent Pioneer League. But prior to the start of spring training, injuries caught up to him once again. Ian reported on YouTube that he suffered a wrist injury which prevented him from holding a bat and swinging it normally. After taking a brief hiatus and forsaking medical advice that he rest for 12 weeks, Ian tried to play through his injuries.

But it didn’t work. In ten games for the Ballers, he went one for 22 (a double), hitting .046, although he did get plate three RBIs. On July 3, Oakland released him. For many players, being released by an independent league team could spell the end of their baseball journey. But Ian, at age 26, will take the next seven months off to fully recover from his injuries, says his career is just getting started, and he’ll do anything he needs so he can get back on the field.

We’ll catch up with Ian next spring and see if that prediction holds up.

EVAN BLUM, 2019
Followers of the Thunderbolts might be forgiven for drawing a blank when it comes to Evan Blum. Evan played just four games for SS-T in 2019 when he injured himself running to first base. He was out for the rest of the season.

Which was too bad for the T-Bolts because Blum had been batting .389 with seven hits and five RBIs. The left-handed hitting infielder (he throws right) from Holy Cross was establishing himself as a critical member of the team when he went down. The previous CRCBL season, Evan played for the Rockville Express (now in the Maryland Collegiate Baseball League) where he hit a solid. 280 with 19 RBIs in 38 games.

Evan saved his best for summer ball. His best collegiate season was 2022 at Holy Cross where he hit .265 in 30 games with ten RBIs. He transferred to Georgetown the next season and put up a .220 batting average in 45 games with 15 RBIs. Overall, his college average was .234.

But that was then. In 2023, Evan put in a season with the Marysville Drakes of the Pecos League where he hit .340 with 55 RBIs in 43 games. This past season. Evan signed with the Billings Mustangs of the independent Pioneer League. He had an excellent season getting into 42 games and hitting .301 with 23 RBIs and seven home runs. His OPS was off the charts, coming in at .919. Evan was a Swiss Army Knife for the Mustangs, playing the outfield, infield, and catcher.

He even pitched an inning, although he gave up two runs on four hits, and yielded a home run.

In his brief professional career, the man has shown that he can hit, play all over the field, and drive in runs. In 2025, the Bethesda-born 25-year-old hopes to use his two seasons in independent ball as a launching pad and see where he can go from there.

We’ll keep an eye on the former Thunderbolt (who spent all too brief time on the team) and look to where he winds up for spring training.

If we’ve left anybody out that you know of, let us know. In a subsequent post, we’ll be looking at former Thunderbolt pitchers who are active in the Minors or Independent ball. Coming soon to your favorite summer collegiate baseball website.

TWO THUNDERBOLTS MAKE ALL-LEAGUE FIRST TEAM FOR 2024 SEASON

SILVER SPRING, August 11—Outfielder Jeff Sabater (Millersville), and pitcher Jay Wandell (Towson) were named to the All-League First Team in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League.

Sabater hit .381 for the season and finished second in batting to the Bethesda Big Train’s Andrew Williamson (U of Central Fla) who hit .462. Sabater now claims the record for the highest season Thunderbolt batting average surpassing Chris Bzozowski (2012) and Stephen Rice (2021), each of whom hit .377. Sabater also broke Carl Colbert’s .475 OBP record set in 2017 with a .548 mark. In addition, Sabater stole 21 bases in 25 attempts, placing him ninth in stolen base percentage among Thunderbolts with 15 or more steals.

Wandell, who will pitch for Towson University this coming season, had a 2-1 record for the Bolts with one save and a 1.20 ERA in 22.1 innings. He appeared in seven games and struck out 16 while walking only nine. He gave up three earned runs all season.

His best outings were against Gaithersburg on June 20 when he went 4.1 innings without a run in a 6-5 loss at Blair. On June 26, he went four innings on the road against the Metro SoCo Braves earning the win in a 6-5 contest. His last outing on July 14 was against Bethesda at home when he started and went five innings, giving up one run on four hits.

His second win came against the Olney Cropdusters on June 29 at Blair when he went three innings, giving up no earned runs on one hit. His sole loss came against the Braves on July 5 when he went three innings, allowed two runs and took the loss in a 4-3 Thunderbolt defeat.

Our congratulations to both All-League First Team members Jeff Sabater and Jay Wandell for their great and record-breaking seasons.

Best of luck in the 2025 College baseball season to you both!

NEW SCOREBOARD AT BLAIR IS A HIT BUT NEEDS AN ASSIST; SCORE A DONATION

SILVER SPRING, July 24—The new scoreboard at Blair is quite the marvel; you can actually tell the inning we’re playing, and how far ahead the Thunderbolts are in any particular game.

But the cost of this new digital masterpiece could use some help from our fans. As you cheer on the T-Bolts, consider making a donation to a GoFundMe campaign to defray the scoreboard expense. It’s a long term investment in the T-Bolts future and an investment in summer collegiate wooden bat baseball in the area and the DMV.

Visit the Gofundme (Click here or Scan the QR Code) and help us out. Keep those scoreboard lights on for future seasons!

GET ‘CHA TICKETS HERE!

Navigate to the Ticket Menu on the top of the page and click or touch. You’ll be taken to a page that tells you how to buy both kinds of tickets online. What could be easier. See ya at Blair!

Kevin’s Korner Now Available From Top Menu

You can now see Kevin’s Korner video features by just clicking on Media on the Top Menu. You will see a link to Kevin’s Korner. Just select that link to be taken to his latest video report.

Makes things a lot easier to see Kevin’s latest. His next feature will be up shortly. Look for it soon on tbolts.org

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