22 former Tri-Cities baseball players help the MLB kick off the 2021 season

Besides cheering for the Seattle Mariners this season, Mid-Columbia fans of Major League Baseball have about 22 reasons to cheer for a number of big league teams this season.

Here’s a look at the former Tri-Cities ballplayers on MLB rosters this week:

▪ Arizona Diamondbacks — No player connections to our area, but the D-Backs do boast 71-year-old first base coach Dave McKay, who at one time played two seasons for Columbia Basin College.

McKay once told me he was preparing to take a job out of high school when he got a call from CBC, who wanted him to come and play. He thought, “Why not?”

It turned into a playing career in the big leagues, and then a lengthy coaching career, much as an assistant for Tony La Russa first for the Oakland A’s and then the St. Louis Cardinals.

He’s been with the D-Backs for a few years now, but in Scottsdale Stadium in spring training March 8, McKay slipped and fell in the dugout. He broke a rib and lacerated his spleen. He’s been sidelined since and will miss Arizona’s season-opening road trip.

But McKay, the team’s first base coach, is expected to be ready for the team’s home opener April 9.

▪ Baltimore Orioles — Infielder Pat Valaika played with the Tri-City Dust Devils in 2013, and the utility had been with the Rockies for four seasons before playing with the Orioles last year.

He’s flexible, playing six different positions for Baltimore last season.

Expect that to happen again.

Meanwhile, Anthony Sanders spent a few seasons as the Dust Devils hitting coach. This season, Sanders will be Baltimore’s first base coach.

▪ Cleveland Indians — The Indians have two former Dust Devils pitchers who at one time were Padres minor-leaguers.

However, through trades, they both ended up with Cleveland.

Cal Quantrill was a reliever last season for the Indians, but it looks like he’ll be used as a starter this year.

Meanwhile, righty Phil Maton will continue in his role as a reliever, just like he was last season.

▪ Colorado Rockies — It’s easy to forget that for a number of years, the Dust Devils franchise was an affiliate for the Rockies.

Right now, Colorado has two former Dust Devils on its squad: outfielder Charlie Blackmon and starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela.

But it also has three former Dust Devils players or coaches on the team.

Current assistant hitting coach Jeff Salazar was an outfielder for the Dust Devils at one time.

Meanwhile, two former Tri-City managers are part of the Rockies coaching staff: Ron Gideon is the team’s first base coach, while Stu Coles is the Rockies third base coach.

▪ Los Angeles Dodgers — Blake Treinen is a relief pitcher for the world champs, and he just signed a new contract this past offseason.

He also makes his offseason home in Walla Walla, where he lives with his wife Kate Isham Treinen, who is a women’s basketball assistant coach for Walla Walla Community College.

▪ Milwaukee Brewers — Richland High School graduate Eric Yardley, a right-handed, submarine-style relief pitcher, made his second consecutive Opening Day lineup with the Brewers.

Former Dust Devils shortstop Luis Urias was acquired in a trade with San Diego a few years ago, and he’s played for the Brewers for a few years.

Meanwhile, bench coach Pat Murphy was manager Craig Counsell’s coach at Notre Dame in college.

But Murphy also used to be the manager of the Tri-City Triplets’ Northwest League team in the early 1980s. Murphy suffered a heart attack last year, but he is fully recovered.

▪ New York Mets — Joey Lucchesi, a former pitcher for the Dust Devils, has been with the big-club Padres.

However, San Diego dealt the lefty to the Big Apple back in January, and it looks like Lucchesi will get a chance to be a starting pitcher.

▪ New York Yankees — Outfielder Mike Tauchman is a former Dust Devils player, and he’s done a great job over the last few years as a spot starter or pinch-hitter for the Yankees.

▪ Pittsburgh Pirates — David Bednar was a pitcher for the Dust Devils, and he was traded in the offseason by the Padres to the Pirates.

Looks like he surprised a lot of folks by making the big club this spring as a reliever.

▪ San Diego Padres — Two players had been former standouts for the Dust Devils: shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr., and starting pitcher Adrian Morejon.

In addition, a former Dust Devils manager, Ben Fritz, is the Padres’ bullpen coach.

▪ Seattle Mariners — Ty France and Nick Margevicius are former Dust Devils who were traded last year to Seattle by San Diego.

France has had one of the hottest bats among all Mariners at spring training, and he’ll at least be a designated hitter or and infielder.

Margevicius was a starter last season for the M’s, but it looks like he’ll start the 2021 season out of the bullpen.

Mid-Columbia Conference volleyball

It’s becoming a habit over at Richland High School when it comes to volleyball: winning the Mid-Columbia Conference title.

That’s what happened last weekend when Bob Raidl’s Bombers beat Chiawana 3-2 in the district title game — even with three starters missing for club volleyball tournaments — finishing the shortened season unbeaten.

In fact, it’s been three straight seasons that Richland has gone through the MCC without a loss.

In a season that was hurriedly pout together when everyone got to OK to play, Raidl thought he might have another good team. But he wasn’t completely sure.

“The 2020 group included (middle blocker) Marin Mackey, (left-side hitter) Ryan White and (setter) Payton Pedersen, who were all elected first-team MCC,” Raidl said. “And so there was proven returning talent. We graduated our top scorers, Sage Brustad and Hailey Daves, and I was concerned about scoring enough points.”

But Raidl moved Mackey and White to the outside hitter position where they would get most swings, and Anna Callaway switched from defensive specialist to Libero.

“Roslyn McLellan was solid at Oppo,” Raidl added. “I was confident that with the positional adjustments, we’d do well. (Setter) Payton (Pedersen) consistently delivered the ball to the right players.”

Any doubts he had about this Bombers team were negated after two tough matches that Richland won 3-2.

“I thought early tough matches at Kennewick and coming back from two sets down at Walla Walla set the tone for our season,” Raidl said. “Our mental strength is our resilience; our top volleyball skill is aggressive serving. And our five seniors (Callaway, McLellan, White, Mackey and Pedersen) all took leadership roles at various points during the season.”

White heads off to Oregon State in the fall to play Libero, while McLellan will play at Bushnell Universoty in Oregon. Mackey and Pedersen are still determining their paths, and Callaway is headed to the University of San Diego to attend nursing school.

What Raidl will do is reload, and he’ll have a lot of talent returning when the team gets ready for the fall season.

Defensive specialist and sophomore Sophia Shoham, sophomore middle Kenzie Nealon, junior outside hitter Gabi Laurenz, sophomore setter Kelli Ostboe, junior setter Morgon Maxwell, junior middle Lexi Franklin, junior Oppo Lauren Ratcliff, sophomore outside hitter Ella Carrick, freshman middle Jenna Holms, and sophomore Oppo Hannah Williamson all come back this fall with varsity experience.