Photos from the 2018 Season
2016 Mudcats Taken in 2019 MLB Draft
2016 Mudcats Stuka, Pavlica taken in MLB draft
By PAUL STURM, C-T Sports Editor Two members of the 2016 Chillicothe Mudcats college-level summer baseball squad were among the more than 1,000 prospects selected by Major League Baseball organizations during last week’s 2019 MLB Draft of amateur players. The first former Mudcat tabbed this year was a repeat choice from 2018. Big (6’7”, 225 pounds) righthanded pitcher Ted Stuka, a redshirt junior at the University of California-San Diego this past school year, was chosen by the Detroit Tigers in the 14th round – the 412th overall selection. That was a much-higher position than a year ago when Baltimore chose him in the second-to-last (39th) round. The leap figures to give Stuka a significantly-higher financial offer to incentivize turning pro. With Chillicothe in 2016 after his freshman year at UC-San Diego, Stuka started two games and relieved in eight others, posting a 2-1 won-lost record and 5.21 earned run average. In 19 innings, he allowed 19 hits and 11 earned runs, walking 19 and hitting five more while striking out only 13. His size, however, is something pro teams increasingly covet with the belief that more-intensive professional instruction can refine things like control of his pitches. Chosen later in last week’s draft was one of Stuka’s teammates, outfielder Preston Pavlica. The righthanded hitter, who just finished his career at Grand Canyon University in Arizona, was selected in the 24th round – 736th overall – by the Houston Astros A teammate at GCU the past two years of 2018 Mudcats outfielder Nate Gawelko and playing under the guidance of GCU assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Gregg Wallis, an infielder with the original 2002 Mudcats, Pavlica batted .290 in 100 at-bats for the Fish three summers ago. With this year’s selection of Pavlica, to the best of the local team’s knowledge, the number of former Mudcats either drafted by MLB organizations or signed by professional teams (either MLB minor-league affiliates or independent-league clubs) since the team’s 2002 inception now is 71. Several, like Stuka now, were drafted a second time after not signing the first time they were chosen. Not nearly all of those drafted signed and played professionally. To date, two ex-Mudcats have reached the major leagues for regular-season play – catcher Caleb Joseph (2005-06) and pitcher Mike Mariot (2009). Several former Fish remain active in the minors at present, at last report, with Joseph – after four full big league seasons with the Baltimore Orioles – now with the Arizona Diamondbacks’ AAA (top minor league) farm club and Mariot, who has battled arm/shoulder trouble, having ended last season in the independent Atlantic League with the league-champion Sugar Land Skeeters. Caleb Bounds will Return
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Former Mudcat, Austin Kerns, Signs With
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Mudcats Host Baseball Camp
Mudcats with their Host Families 2017

Former Mudcat Caleb Joseph, One of the First Mudcats to Make it to Major League Baseball, Hits a RBI Single vs the Royals August 25, 2015
Caleb Joseph talks to Paul Sturm about being in the Majors. Click play button to listen.

Mudcats to workout at the YMCA
The Chillicothe Mudcats have reached an agreement which will allow the Mudcats to workout at the Grand River Area YMCA.
The facility will be available to the Mudcats all summer for free.
The Chillicothe Mudcats have reached an agreement which will allow the Mudcats to workout at the Grand River Area YMCA.
The facility will be available to the Mudcats all summer for free.