Major League Baseball is back for the 2024 season and Anne Arundel County has two players taking the field around the league.
Josh Hader, a Millersville native and2012 Old Mill High School graduate is pitching for the Houston Astros this year. Jackson Merrill, who graduated from Severna Park High School in 2021, is starting in centerfield for the San Diego Padres.
The Baltimore Orioles selected Hader in the 19th round of the 2012 MLB Draft. However, he never pitched for the Orioles because he was traded to the Houston Astros as part of a deadline deal. He is now in his second stint with the Astros where he signed a five-year $98 million contract in the offseason. He pitched one inning in a loss to the New York Yankees Thursday.
He also played for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2015 to 2022, and the Padres last season.
During his senior year at Old Mill, the 6-foot-3 left-hander had a 10-0 record, 125 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.30. He also had .400 a batting average.
As a pro, Hader has been named an All-Star five times and earned All-MLB First Team and National League Reliever of the Year honors three times.
Merrill was a standout shortstop at Severna Park High School earning Capital Gazette Player of the Year in 2021. He tied his school record with 13 home runs and batted .500 with 39 RBIs. Merrill led his high school team to a 17-1 record and a runner-up finish in the 4A state championship.
The 6-foot-3 195-pound shortstop was committed to the University of Kentucky before being drafted 27th by the Padres in 2021.
He played 200 minor league games — 196 at shortstop and four in left field. San Diego management moved him to the outfield toward the end of last season when he was with Double-A San Antonio.
Last Wednesday in Korea against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Merrill became just the third player in the last 50 years to start in centerfield before the age of 21 joining Ken Griffey Jr. and Andruw Jones.
So far this season, Merrill has a .200 batting average with three runs and two hits in 10 at-bats. On Thursday, the Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4.
In addition to the two field players, Severna Park native Mark Budzinski is starting his sixth season as the first base coach of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Budzinski played at Severna Park High under coach Jim Pitt. He was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 21st round of the 1995 MLB draft and spent seven seasons in the minor leagues with that organization. He played four other seasons with minor league affiliates of the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies before retiring in 2005.