A Braden River High Grad and Two Former, State College of Florida Manatees Baseball Alumni, are ALL Playing in the World Series
Manatee and Sarasota County residents have several local players to root for in 2005 the World Series.
Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Myles Straw is a Braden River High School alum.
Prior to The World Series, he’s played in nine of the Jays’ 11 playoff games this season as a role player coming off the bench.
Straw was 2-for-9 this postseason, delivering an RBI single in the deciding Game 4 of the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees.
Now he’s part of a Blue Jays team making their first Fall Classic appearance since 1993.
The Houston Astros selecting him in the 12th round of the 2015 MLB Draft. Straw made his MLB debut in 2018 with the Astros. They traded him in 2021 to the Cleveland Guardians. Straw won a Gold Glove in 2022, but found himself in the minors for the majority of the 2024 season.
The Blue Jays traded for him in January, and Straw earned a roster spot in spring training of this year.
In terms of SCF’s connection to this year World Series.
Brendon Little and Justin Wrobleski, both former pitchers at State College of Florida in Bradenton, both now play in Major League Baseball… for the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively, playing each other in the 2025 World Series.
Both Little and Wrobleski are left-handed pitchers. They played against each other in a regular-season game in August of this year.
Little is 29 years old and a Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania native. He transferred to SCF in the 2016-17 season from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he pitched four innings as a freshmaN.. At SCF, Little developed his skills under Donnie Robinson, an SCF pitching coach and former 15-year MLB pitcher.
Little was a 4.0 GPA student and an NJCAA Academic All-American player. After a strong 2017 spring season, he was selected as the 27th overall pick in round one of the 2017 MLB draft by the Chicago Cubs.
Wrobleski is 25 years old and a Hoffman Estates, Illinois native. He transferred to SCF for the 2019–20 season from Clemson University, where his spring season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At SCF, he overcame a jaw injury that required his mouth to be wired shut and later underwent Tommy John surgery while at Oklahoma State University. Despite these setbacks, he emerged as one of SCF’s top pitchers and earned a scholarship to Oklahoma State.
View the MLB World Series schedule at MLB.com.
You can Learn more about SCF athletics programs at SCFManatees.com.