Duluth Huskies Sign California Trio To Strengthen Pitching

The Duluth Huskies signed 3 talented pitchers to add to their roster and they all happen to come from the state of California.

All three know each other from playing for the California State University Stanislaus Warriors. The three teammates include Pitchers Tyler Meyer, Maxxwell Pappas, and Antonio Cortez. The trio is just the most recent signing in a steady stream of talent pipelined from California, the home state of head coach Marcus Pointer, which explains how they know about the Duluth Huskies.

The first pitcher signed by the Duluth Huskies is Tyler Meyer who graduated from Big Valley Christian School in Modesto, California. According to the Duluth Huskies website, the Riverbank native was a two-time league MVP, two-time county All-Star selection, and four-time All-League selection, according to warriorathletics.com.  In the shortened 2020 season. Tyler struck out 11 batters while collecting two wins and two losses over that span.

Tyler said it was disappointing having his freshman season cut short but told the Duluth Huskies website, “I managed to stay positive and make the most of this unfortunate situation…I was able to continue to work out and throw through the summer and fall of 2020, gaining both strength and velocity, and that will continue to be my goal until our (Huskies) season begins this summer.”

Again, Meyer like other players, said he chose to come to play for the Huskies because he wanted to be a part of the team culture that has been established by the management and former players.

According to the Duluth Huskies website, pitcher number 2 is Maxwell Pappas, a native of Long Beach, California, Maxwell Pappas transferred from El Camino College to the Stanislaus Warriors prior to the 2020 season but was disappointed when the 2020 season was cut short

According to the Huskies website, Pappas has a healthy resume too, having been named All Second Team in the South Coast Conference in 2019. Making eight pitching appearances in 2020, he struck out 15 batters while allowing a batting average of .255. Pappas wants to become a Strength and Conditioning coach after his playing days, so he will be a great addition to the team to help them get in shape. He also heard about the great reputation in Duluth and said not only could he work on his skills, but he loved the scenery too.

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Both the other guys are right-handed, according to the Huskies, Antonio (you can call him Tony) Cortez is from Atwater California. His team dubbed the Pitcher of the Year, and was recognized as a two-time All-League player, per warriorathletics.com.  The other guys used the time off to work on baseball, and Tony did too, but Cortez concentrated on getting his engineering degree in architecture and now says he can really follow his dream to play baseball.

Tony told the Duluth Huskies, “What I’m most looking forward to this upcoming season is creating new friendships and learning from my teammates and coaches to increase my pitching performance, my coach with the Warriors told me that I had developed a good amount, and he wanted me to get into a good league with a good team.”

The Huskies just keep getting stronger.