Former Ashland University pitchers Art Warren and Brandyn Sittinger have each been assigned to their Minor League Baseball clubs to start the 2018 season.
Warren will begin in the year at a new level with the Arkansas Travelers, the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. Sittinger will return to the West Michigan Whitecaps where he finished the 2017 season. The Whitecaps are the Single-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.
Warren, drafted in the 23rd Round of the 2015 MLB June Draft, has climbed quickly through the ranks of the Mariners organization. He helped High-A Modesto to the California League championship last season, tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts in the championship series. Warren struck out the side to record the final three outs to secure the title.
Last season, he was 3-1 with a 3.06 ERA across 64 2/3 relief innings for Modesto racking up 67 strikeouts and eight saves.
A full-time reliever, MLB.com ranks Warren as Seattle's eighth-best Minor League prospect, while ESPN.com's Keith Law puts Warren 12th in the organization.
He was assigned to the Arizona Fall League with the Mariners and helped Peoria to the AFL title, tossing 11 1/3 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts.
In his lone season with the Eagles in 2015, Warren was 5-4 with a 3.88 ERA in 60 1/3 innings with 52 strikeouts and allowing just one home run.
Sittinger was drafted in the 17th Round of the 2016 MLB June Draft. He finished last season by making seven appearances with the Whitecaps, posting a 3-1 record with a 3.38 ERA. He struck out 18 batters in 13 1/3 innings. That followed a 17-inning stint with the Connecticut Tigers in which he allowed just two earned runs and struck out 21.
Sittinger is 4-2 with a 1.94 ERA and five saves across two seasons in the Detroit organization.
He was an All-American with the Eagles, going 11-0 with a 2.23 ERA in 14 appearances in 2016. Sittinger recorded the second-most strikeouts in a single-season with 131.
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