FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – With baseball back in full swing, NSUSharks.com takes a glimpse at the bevy of former Sharks players scattered throughout the professional ranks, ranging from MLB All-Star J.D. Martinez to 2016 national champion and Sunshine State Conference Pitcher of the Year, Alex Mateo.
 
J.D. Martinez – Detroit Tigers (American League, Major League Baseball; Detroit, Mich.)
 
The program's all-time leader in career home runs and the most accomplished professional, Martinez continued to establish himself as one of the American League's premier hitters in 2016, totaling 22 home runs with 68 RBI. Despite missing 40 games due to an elbow injury, he still led the Detroit Tigers in doubles with 35, while posting a slash line of .307/.373/.535, one of just four players, along with David Ortiz, Mike Trout and teammate Miguel Cabrera, to place among the AL's top ten in batting average – in which he was eighth – on-base percentage (seventh) and slugging percentage (seventh). Martinez is one of only six players to hit 30 doubles and 20 home runs in each of the past three seasons, in addition to one of six in Tigers history. Though his scorching June, in which he hit .404 – third-best among all MLB players with at least 65 plate appearance – along with nine doubles and a .614 slugging in 15 games, was cut short by the injury, he returned in August even hotter. On August 3^rd, Martinez made his first appearance off the disabled list, as a pinch-hitter in the 8^th inning of a 1-1 tie. The home crowd at Comerica Park welcomed him back with a standing ovation, and he crushed the first offering from Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale to straight-away center for the game-winning homer. Three days later, he showed off his arm with a walk-off outfield assist, nabbing the game's would-be game-tying run, Jay Bruce, at the plate to secure a 6-5 victory. Just eight days after that, Martinez celebrated the 100^th home run of his Major League career; he is now up to 107 in his years in the bigs, with 83 since the Tigers signed him in March of 2014. He finished the month of August with another .404 average, as well as 11 doubles, seven home runs and a .712 slugging percentage. His average placed him third again, as did his 18 extra-base hits, while his 42 hits ranked fifth and his slugging sixth. Martinez also had a five-game multi-hit streak in August, which, when paired with his six-game streak in June, made him one of just two players, along with the Seattle Mariners' Kyle Seager, to have two such streaks of five or more games last season, and the first to do so for the Tigers since 1992. In total, Martinez is 15^th in the AL in doubles since 2014, with 98 and 13^th in homers (83) – only five players have more of each – as well as ninth in extra-base hits (181) and sixth in slugging (.540), despite over 100, and as many as nearly 200, fewer plate appearances than anyone ahead of him on either of the four lists. Though he is starting the 2017 season on the DL, he is expected to return within the next week or two, and has a lot to play for once he does; he's in the final season of the 2-year, $18.5M deal he signed before the 2016 season. Martinez projects to spend much of his season in the five-hole, right behind Cabrera and Victor Martinez, which bodes well for him, as he hit .350 with a .558 slugging, picking up 12 of his home runs and 33 of his extra-base hits in 72 of 119 starts out of that spot last season.
 
Mike Fiers – Houston Astros (American League, Major League Baseball; Houston, Texas)
 
Fiers provided the Houston Astros with some much-needed dependability in their rotation, making 30 starts for the second season in a row, while also earning a career-high 11 wins, his first in double digits, to go along with his 4.48 ERA. His record of 11-8 was the best winning percentage among the team's starters, while the team was 18-12 in games he started, the second-best record on the team. He allowed just 2.2 walks per nine innings in his 168.2 innings of work, which placed tenth in the American League, in addition to 134 strikeouts, at a rate of 7.2 per nine. He was even better at his home stadium of Minute Maid Park, with a 4.09 ERA in 94.2 innings, while totaling 80 strikeouts compared to just 21 walks, or just under 2.0 per nine. He also issued zero or one walks in half of his 30 starts. Fiers completed 2016 with a career 34-37 record and a 3.87 ERA in 572.2 innings across six seasons, including 13-9 with a 4.17 ERA in 231 innings spanning a season and a half in Houston. He's appeared in 112 games, starting 95 of them, with 542 strikeouts (8.5 SO/9) to just 168 walks (2.6 BB/9), while maintaining a .251 opponent batting average. He entered this year once again as one of the Astros' five starting pitchers, making his season debut with six innings of work with two runs allowed (one earned) on five hits against the Royals, despite a losing effort.
 
Miles Mikolas – Yomiuri Giants (Japan Central League, Nippon Pro Baseball; Tokyo, Japan)
 
Mikolas missed the first three months of the season, but still returned in a big way for the "Yankees of Japan." He made 14 starts during the regular season, posting a 4-2 record and 2.45 ERA in 91.2 innings, with a .240 opponent average, 84 strikeouts (8.25 per nine innings), and just 23 walks allowed (2.26 per nine). He went 23 starts without a loss, winning 14 consecutive decisions, a streak dating back to June 20, 2015 and lasting through August 28 of last season. That tied a Japanese baseball record for the most consecutive decisions won by a foreign pitcher, previously set by another American former Major Leaguer, Rick van den Hurk, whose streak ran from 2015-2016, and was his franchise's longest streak since Tetsuya Yamaguchi won 14 straight relief decisions in 2008 and 2009. Mikolas put up a 1.96 ERA over his last 11 starts, nine of which were quality starts, with 77 strikeouts to just 14 walks in 78 innings (8.88 and 1.62 per nine, respectively), averaging over 7 innings per start along with a 0.97 WHIP and .214 opponent batting average. On July 24, Mikolas allowed a season-low two hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings for his first win of the season and then tossed eight innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts and no walks for his second win one week later, his third straight game allowing one run in at least seven innings. Mikolas hit the first home run of his career on August 7, a towering solo shot to left field. He held his opponent, Hiroshima, scoreless for seven innings on August 23, recording eight strikeouts for the third straight game and allowing just five hits. On September 21, despite being rained out twice in the previous three days, once because of a typhoon, he threw his first complete game of the season – and his fifth for the Giants – for his fourth and final victory of the season. He allowed no runs and just two hits through his first eight innings and struck out a season-high nine batters for the second game in a row. In total, he completed at least seven innings in eight of his starts, allowed two runs or less in nine and didn't issue a walk five times. He also struck out at least one batter per inning pitched in half of his 14 games and allowed one hit or less per inning in ten, including each of his last seven of the season. Mikolas started Yomiuri's first playoff game, against Yokohama on October 8, and pitched another quality start by allowing three runs on five hits in six innings of work, with five strikeouts and no walks, but took a hard-luck loss as the Giants were eventually eliminated, two games to one. After two seasons in the JCL, Mikolas is 17-5 in 35 starts, with a 2.13 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 236.2 innings, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 191:46, or 4.15:1. On March 24, Mikolas and his wife, Lauren, welcomed their first child in his hometown of Jupiter, Fla., a girl they named Lillianne Jean. Just two days later, he returned to Japan to get ready for the new season and made the Giants' Opening Day start a mere week after his daughter's birth. So far in 2017, Mikolas has been his usual dominant self, with a 2-0 record and 1.71 ERA through three starts, all of which have been 7-inning quality starts. Despite an inflated .300 opponent average, he has yet to issue a walk, while collecting 13 total strikeouts. In addition, opposing batters have just three extra-base hits, all doubles, for a .305 opponent on-base and .338 slugging.
 
Carlos Asuaje – El Paso Chihuahuas (Pacific Coast League, Triple-A, San Diego Padres organization, Minor League Baseball; El Paso, Texas)
 
Asuaje had a breakout 2016 season, highlighted by becoming the fourth former Shark to make his Major League debut on September 21, and the first who played under current head coach Greg Brown. The No. 11 prospect in the Padres organization, according to MLB Pipeline, as well as the No. 9 overall second base prospect, Asuaje played baseball nearly non-stop for seven months, appearing in 167 total games in a 216-day span from April 7 (the first day of El Paso's season) through November 8 (his last game in the Dominican Winter League). Starting the season in the PCL, Asuaje was hot right out of the gate and never had time to let his bat cool down. He homered in two of his first three games of the year and totaled nine extra-base hits in 19 games in April, giving him a .514 slugging percentage. He then hit .378/.437/.523 in 28 May games, recording at least one hit in all but five games. By comparison, he had five games of at least three hits that month and 12 multi-hit games, to finish May with 42 total hits, including nine doubles and two triples. July was another huge month for him. He played 26 games for El Paso, hitting .359/.407/.544, with 10 doubles and three home runs. He also participated in All-Star events at both the Major League and Minor League levels. On July 10, the Venezuela native played on the World Futures Team in the Futures Game, part of the All-Star Game festivities hosted at Petco Park, home of his organization's Major League club and the same stadium in which he would make his MLB debut just two months later. He was 2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored to aid the World squad to victory. Just three days later and some 2,000 miles away in Charlotte, N.C., Asuaje started and played all nine innings at second base for the PCL All-Stars in the AAA All-Star Game. He concluded the AAA regular season by leading the Chihuahuas to the PCL's best regular-season record with his .321/.378/.473 line in 134 games, as well as 98 runs scored, 172 hits, 32 doubles, 11 triples, nine home runs, 69 RBI and 10 stolen bases. Asuaje placed among the league leaders in several categories, and in fact led the PCL in runs, hits and at-bats. He was also second in games played, plate appearances and triples, third in total bases and seventh in doubles. Meanwhile, among 77 qualified hitters, Asuaje's average of .321 was fourth, his on-base percentage (.378) and batting average on balls in play (.363) were both 10^th, and his strikeout rate of just 13.7 percent placed him 11^th. He then assisted El Paso to a Pacific Coast League championship, with a .350 on-base percentage in their first-round series victory over the Tacoma Rainiers and .353 on-base percentage with a home run and five runs driven in the championship series victory over the Oklahoma City Dodgers. He appeared on national television once again on September 20, going 1-for-4 in the Triple-A Baseball National Championship Game, despite his Chihuahuas falling 3-1 to the International League champion Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. Asuaje made his MLB debut for the Padres the next night as a pinch-hitter, and made his first start at second base on September 22, batting sixth. Starting again on the 23^rd, and hitting out of the two-hole, he got his first hit, a double down the right field line in the bottom of the first, as part of a 2-for-4 performance with a pair of doubles and a pair of runs scored in a 7-2 Padres victory, his first in the Majors. In his short first stint in the show, Asuaje was 5-for-24 with two doubles, two runs, two RBI, one walk and just four strikeouts in seven games, starting six of San Diego's last ten games on the year. Three weeks after the end of the MLB season, Asuaje traveled to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he played 15 games in the Dominican Winter League, collecting 14 hits, including a double and a triple, while scoring seven and driving in ten, with an even walk-to-strikeout rate of 6:6. All told, he hit .307 in his 167 games in 2016 and tallied 202 hits – of which 58 went for extra bases, 36 doubles, 12 triples, 10 homers – as well as 111 runs scored and 89 runs batted in, playing primarily at second base, but also spending some time at third base, left field and designated hitter. Asuaje has been a little slower out of the gate this season, hitting .195/.267/.268 with three doubles, three runs and two RBI through April 18, but with a batting average on balls in play of only .229 and just 6 strikeouts in 45 plate appearances (13.3 percent), is due to improve both his luck and his numbers.
 
Alex Mateo – Greensboro Grasshoppers (South Atlantic League, Class-A Full-Season, Miami Marlins organization, Minor League Baseball; Greensboro, N.C.)
 
Mateo appeared in 17 games in his first pro season after being selected in the 22^nd round of the draft, playing for three different Marlins affiliates and reaching as high as the Greensboro Grasshoppers in the Single-A South Atlantic League. Pitching exclusively out of the bullpen, Mateo was 2-3, posting a combined 4.19 ERA with 33 strikeouts to just nine walks in 34.1 innings, averaging over two innings per game. He made the majority of his appearances for the short-season Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League, receiving a promotion from the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in early July after just three games, and was promoted once again to the Grasshoppers in late August, where he made four appearances at the end of the season. Mateo earned his first win as a pro with a pair of scoreless innings on July 29, then followed it with season-highs of 3.1 scoreless innings, six strikeouts and nine whiffs out of 43 pitches on August 3. Mateo later picked up another win in three innings of work on August 8, bringing his scoreless streak to 10.1 consecutive innings, in which he allowed 10 hits, all singles, and struck out 11 batters. He also held his opponents scoreless in his first two outings in the SAL, tallying four strikeouts in four innings, while allowing just a single and a walk. His efforts upped his strikeout total to 34, compared to just six walks in 30.3 innings with a 3.56 ERA, before a couple of rougher games to end the year. In ten appearances from July 15 through August 28, Mateo maintained a meager 1.93 ERA, in addition to allowing a slash line of .250/.283/.295 in 23.1 innings, striking out 24 batters and issuing just three walks, while inducing swings and misses on 12.9 percent of his 303 pitches, as well. He was at his most lights-out when facing left-handed hitters, as they hit a mere .167 (9-54) off him, while 16 of the 62 batters, or 25.8 percent, struck out. Mateo has started the 2017 season in the Grasshoppers' rotation, where in his first three starts as a professional ballplayer, he has struck out 16 batters and walked just four in 13.2 innings thus far.
 
Daniel Zardon – Lakewood Blueclaws (South Atlantic League, Class-A Full-Season, Philadelphia Phillies organization, Minor League Baseball; Lakewood, N.J.)
 
Starting 37 out of his 40 games played for the Phillies' Gulf Coast League affiliate, Zardon, the first Shark selected from the 2016 National Champions, hit .270 with 13 doubles, two home runs, 18 runs scored and 21 driven in. He started his pro career slowly, going just 2-for-20 in his first five games, but quickly picked it up by hitting .368 (7-for-19) without a single strikeout over his next four, before an injury kept him out for three weeks in July. Upon returning, Zardon hit .295/.387/.485 with 28 hits in his last 28 starts of the year, tallying 13 extra-base hits and 14 walks to 17 strikeouts in the process. Zardon also recorded a home run and four RBI in four post-season games to help lead his team to the GCL Championship Series, where they fell to the Cardinals, two games to one. He also hit an impressive .358/.427/.627 with 13 of his 16 extra-base hits coming at the Phillies' home field at the Carpenter Complex, adjacent to Bright House Field, the Spring Training home of his big-league club. His 13 doubles placed him second in the GCL; among 95 hitters with at least 140 plate appearances, his 11.4 percent walk rate and 15.0 percent strikeout were 10^th and 23^rd respectively, giving him a walk-to-strikeout rate of 0.76 that ranked eighth. After spring training this season, he was promoted straight to full season ball, playing in the South Atlantic League, where he has made six starts between first, second and third base.
 
Ryan Castellanos – Extended spring training (Detroit Tigers organization, Minor League Baseball; Lakeland, Fla.)
 
Castellanos pitched in 15 games in 2016, with 14 of them coming for the Connecticut Tigers of the New York-Penn League, where he had the most single-season wins in team history with a record of 8-6. He split his time as both a starter and reliever, making seven appearances in each role, tossing a season-high seven innings in the final game of the season on September 3 to set the aforementioned record. He did his best work out of long relief, with six of his wins out of bullpen, in six consecutive relief outings. He totaled 31 innings in those six games, an impressive average of over five innings per game, and held his opponents scoreless in three of them, for a 2.32 ERA. He walked just one of the 119 batters he faced, allowing an on-base percentage of just .269 and throwing 70.9 percent of his pitches for strikes. He rolled seven double play balls and was aided by a 51 percent ground ball rate. He was also 5-0 in five games at his home ballpark in Norwich, Conn., with a 3.00 ERA and just two walks issued in 27 innings. Perhaps his best outing, however, was in a spot start for the Class-A Full Season West Michigan Whitecaps on July 31, when he threw six innings of one-run ball, matching a season-high with four strikeouts to earn the victory. The record-breaking win came in his last game of the season on September 3, with a season-high seven innings of one-run ball. He didn't allow a walk in ten of his fifteen total appearances, and only issued more than one twice all season. His eight wins were also second in the New-York Penn League, and he was ninth with 71.1 total innings. Meanwhile, his 1.5 walks allowed per nine innings and 3.9 percent walk rate were both fourth among the league's 31 qualified pitchers.
 
Alexander Kline – Extended spring training (Philadelphia Phillies organization, Minor League Baseball; Clearwater, Fla.)
 
Kline appeared in 15 games, all in relief, for the Williamsport Crosscutters, the Phillies' short-season affiliate in the New York-Penn League. He was electric all season, with 28 strikeouts and a 2.88 ERA in 25 innings. Kline also held opposing hitters to just a .172 average on 15 hits and a .241 slugging on four doubles and one triple, while earning two wins and three saves in the process. Kline's three saves were tied for second on the team, and his two wins and 28 strikeouts were also both second among the team's relievers. He picked up his first win on June 23, just his second game, striking out the side in the top of the 10^th. In what marked his second consecutive hitless outing to begin his career, he tallied six strikeouts out of 10 batters in his first three innings. He earned his first save on July 23, needing to face just one batter to get the job done. From that point on, he was even more dominant, allowing just one earned run on seven hits with 12 strikeouts for a 0.71 ERA and .163 batting average against in eight games and 12.1 innings, a span which also included a 0.00 ERA in 8.2 innings in his last four games after the NYPL All-Star Game. His second and third saves came in back-to-back games on August 23 and 30, followed by three strikeouts in a season-high 2.2 innings to finish the season on September 5. In six outings away from Williamsport, he allowed just one single to 28 batters, and also shined with the platoon advantage, as left-handed batters were just 3-for-26 (.115) against him and struck out 10 times in 34 plate appearances. In total, Kline struck out 26.4 percent of the 106 batters he faced and got them to miss at 11.7 percent of the 429 pitches he threw. Currently, he is rehabbing from injury in extended spring training at the Phillies' facility in Clearwater, Fla.
 
Devin Raftery – Extended spring training (Houston Astros organization, Minor League Baseball; West Palm Beach, Fla.)
 
Raftery was just as dominant in the minors as he was with the Sharks. In 16 games and 27.1 innings for two Astros affiliates, he tallied 41 strikeouts and a 3.62 ERA, ending the season in short-season ball with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League. With the Greeneville Astros of the Appalachian League, he struck out a season-high eight of ten batters in just three innings in a 20-inning win, the longest game in team history. Raftery's eight strikeouts were the most by any of the 15 pitchers in the game, and led Greeneville to 34 as a staff and a combined 56 for both sides. Raftery was named Greeneville's Pitcher of the Month for the month of July, one in which he picked up three wins in eight appearances, with 23 strikeouts to just three walks, a 0.73 ERA and a .205 opponent average in 12.1 innings, as well as a 10.1-inning scoreless streak in his first seven outings. He recorded at least one strikeout in all but one of his 16 games, an appearance in which he only faced one batter, and struck out at least three batters in half of them. Midway through his season, he had already totaled 22 strikeouts in only 12 innings, or against 45.8 percent of the batters he had faced, and finished the season at 34.5 percent. He earned his first career victory with a pair of scoreless innings on July 15, then picked up two more in consecutive appearances on July 25 and July 28, which tied him for the team lead. The wins were then followed by his first career save, an outing in which he struck out the side on August 2. After a promotion in mid-August, he started his Tri-City career with two four-strikeout outings, ending up with 10 in just 6.1 innings. His 13.3 strikeouts per nine innings were third-best among the Appalachian League's full-time relief pitchers and, along with his 34.4 percent strikeout rate, seventh among all 195 pitchers who threw at least 20 innings. Righties hit just .211 off him and struck out nearly 40 percent of the time.
 
Alexander Fernandez – Washington Wild Things (Frontier League, Independent; Washington, Penn.)
 
Fernandez played in 51 games at three different minor-league levels in 2016. He started the season in the South Atlantic League, playing 16 games for the Greensboro Grasshoppers, a Miami Marlins affiliate. He only hit .211, but drew eight walks and was hit by two pitches, for a .328 on-base percentage, and was also a perfect 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts. After a demotion to the New York-Penn League, he played five games for the Batavia Muckdogs before being released and catching on with the Detroit Tigers organization. Despite a slow start after being assigned to the Gulf Coast League, hitting .111/.273/.111 in his first four games, Fernandez quickly got hot, hitting .297/.400/.486 with four doubles and three stolen bases over his next 11 games, including his first home run of the season on July 21. He ended the season with a .410 on-base percentage and three more stolen bases in his last 11 games, and hit his second home run of the year in the last game of the year on August 30. In 29 total GCL games, Fernandez hit .238/.365/.381 with eight of his 20 hits going for extra bases – six doubles and two homers – while drawing 17 walks and safely stealing seven bases without being caught. He hit .311/.426/.533 at his home ballpark at Joker Marchant Stadium, with both of his home runs and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 9:10. He also crushed left-handed pitching to the tune of a .333/.517/.524 slash line, drawing eight walks and striking out just three times.
 
Zachary Westcott – Windy City ThunderBolts (Frontier League, Independent; Crestwood, Ill.)
 
Westcott struggled in the American Association to start the season, with a 7.20 ERA in 20 combined innings (14 games), after a trade from the Lincoln Saltdogs to the St. Paul Saints in early June. He was released by the Saints in early July, but was quickly signed by the Windy City Thunderbolts, and was lights-out almost immediately. He began an 11.1-inning scoreless streak in his fourth game with the new club, spanning nine games, which was culminated by his retiring of 20 consecutive opposing hitters in five games. He allowed one run on August 4, but then quickly picked up where he left off, with another extended scoreless streak, this time lasting seven games and 16.2 innings. That one was snapped in the seventh inning of his first career professional start on August 27, as well as his first win of 2016, finishing with a career-high seven innings and five strikeouts. He ended the season with another start on September 2, another five-strikeout performance in 5.2 innings of work. He totaled 39.2 innings in 20 games for the Thunderbolts, with an ERA of just 1.36, an opposing slash line of .175/.219/.241, a 0.81 WHIP and 32 strikeouts, as well as an even better 1.00 ERA in 27 innings out of the bullpen. His 2016 season totals were 59.2 innings in 34 games, with 45 strikeouts, a 3.32 ERA and a .233 batting average allowed.
 
Justin Garcia – Washington Wild Things (Frontier League, Independent; Washington, Penn.)
 
Garcia played six games for the Houston Astros' Appalachian League affiliate in Greenville, Tenn., with hits in each of his last four games, including his first home run of the season on July 7, before being released. He caught on in the independent Frontier League, signing with the Washington Wild Things a month later. He played in 14 games, and hit his first home run for them on August 17. His best game was on September 3, when he went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored. This season, he will return to Washington, Penn., about 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, with the first game on May 12, when his team will take on Zac Westcott and the Windy City Thunderbolts.
 
Roche Woodard – Free Agent
 
Woodard had another exceptional year in the daily grind of the Pecos League, ranking highly in several statistical categories. He capitalized on the power he found towards the end of the 2015 season, mashing 16 homers, good for eighth in the league, including four multi-home run games. He was second in runs scored with 80, fourth in triples (4) and was also a perfect 20-for-20 on stolen bases, the most by any player without getting caught. He hit .316/.418/.585 in 62 regular season games, with 80 hits, 12 doubles, 35 walks, and 10 hit-by-pitches. He had a season-high 13-game hitting streak in mid-July, including five consecutive multi-hit games. Woodard and the Roswell Invaders fell in the second round of the playoffs, unable to defend their title from the year before.
 
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