There was migration. Lots of off-season migration, where Cal State Fullerton baseball alums moved from major-league baseball team to team like the animal manifestation of its Titan mascot — the elephant.
As usual, Cal State Fullerton was well-represented on Opening Day major-league rosters, with seven Titans populating rosters, along with three coaches and a manager. But what stood out about the 2024 Titan major-league contingent is the migration.
Of the seven players on major-league Opening Day rosters, five are playing on new teams: Matt Chapman, J.D. Davis, Justin Turner, Dylan Floro and Michael Lorenzen. The migration also extended to one of the coaches: Matt Wise.
We’ll get to the moving-van crew in a moment. Instead, let’s start with one of the two Titans who didn’t need change-of-address forms this winter — Tanner Bibee. When we last checked in with the Cleveland Guardians right-hander, he was parked in the Guardians’ Class AAA franchise in Columbus, Ohio.
That lasted until last April 26, when Bibee needed his own change-of-address forms after the Guardians — noting his 2-0 record, 1.76 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 15 innings — called him up to the majors. From there, all Bibee did was go 10-4 with a 2.98 ERA and 1.17 WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched). Bibee made 25 starts, striking out 141 in his 142 innings. He finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting to Baltimore Orioles’ shortstop Gunnar Henderson.
This season, Bibee hasn’t missed a beat. He’s 1-0 in his first two starts, with 13 strikeouts in 9.1 innings (as of publication date).
The other Titan who didn’t have moving companies on speed dial was pitcher Chris Devenski, an interesting development considering the former All-Star reliever is now playing for his fifth team — the Tampa Bay Rays. He joined the Rays after the Angels released him last August. In 29 appearances for the Santa Ana native’s hometown team, Devenski was 3-2 with a 5.09 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 33.2 innings — after spending a month on the injured list with a strained right hamstring.
Tampa Bay signed him to a major-league contract the same day, whereupon Devenski found Florida more to his liking. He went 3-2 with a 2.08 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and nine strikeouts in as many innings for the Rays. In December, he re-signed with Tampa Bay.
This year, Devenski has a 4.05 ERA in three games for the Rays (as of publication date).
While Bibee and Devenski stayed put, Chapman made perhaps the biggest splash among the Titan migrating major-leaguers. After two seasons in Toronto, the multiple Gold Glove-winning third baseman moved back to the Bay Area, signing a three-year, $54 million guaranteed contract with the San Francisco Giants.
Chapman began his major-league career on the other side of the Bay, with the Oakland Athletics, who traded him to Toronto after the 2021 season. Chapman battled a finger injury en route to his fourth Gold Glove last year, to go with 17 home runs, 54 RBI and a .240 batting average. He turned down a $20.325 million qualifying offer from the Blue Jays and tested a tepid free-agent market in which he was still unsigned into March. Chapman rectified that March 3, signing that contract with the Giants.
This season, Chapman reacquainted himself with not only his former Bay Area digs, but manager Bob Melvin, who was Chapman’s manager his first five seasons in Oakland. Chapman’s power and fielding remain among the game’s elite. Before his finger injury, Chapman blasted 27 home runs each of the previous two years.
While Chapman returned to the Bay Area, Davis stayed in Northern California — albeit on the other side of the Bay. The third baseman opens his eighth season with the Athletics after signing a one-year, $2.5 million contract.
And Davis has Chapman to thank for that. When the Giants signed his fellow Titan alum, Davis became expendable. That, despite hitting 18 home runs and driving in 69 for the Giants last year. San Francisco released Davis on March 11, after it signed Chapman and after Davis beat the Giants in salary arbitration. When the Giants released Davis, they saved more than $5.7 million in salary — the difference between the $1.1 million in termination pay they owed him and the $6.9 million the arbitration panel awarded him, according to ESPN.com.
This year, Davis is off to a strong start for the Athletics. He’s hitting .310 with a pair of homers and a .961 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) in eight games.
The other eye-raising move aside from Chapman came from another former All-Star—Turner. One of the most popular players in the game, Turner filled Chapman’s Titan spot on the Blue Jays, signing a one-year, $13 million contract. The 39-year-old Turner moves north after hitting .276 with 23 home runs, a career-best 96 RBI and an .800 OPS for the Boston Red Sox last year.
Turner filled the same role with the Red Sox that he did with the Los Angeles Dodgers: a wise, veteran presence in the clubhouse and a popular presence with the hard-to-please Boston fans. When he was with the Dodgers, he was the only three-time winner of the team’s Roy Campanella Award, given annually to the Dodgers player who best exemplifies the spirit and leadership of the late Hall of Fame catcher.
Turner opened his 16th major-league season with a homer, four doubles and five RBI through last weekend, breaking out with a .936 OPS.
Lorenzen, meanwhile, opened his 10th season with the reigning World Series champions, the Texas Rangers. And signing that one-year, $4.5 million contract with the Rangers on March 22 wasn’t close to the biggest news the All-Star right-hander made in the last eight months.
In a move that went below virtually every radar screen outside of Detroit and Philadelphia — and even there, it barely made a ripple despite his All-Star season for the Tigers — Lorenzen was traded from the Tigers to the Phillies on Aug. 1. Eight days later, in his first home start for the Phillies, Lorenzen threw the 14th no-hitter in franchise history. In so doing, he became the first Titan to throw a no-hitter in the majors.
That was Lorenzen’s high-water mark as a Philly. He compiled a 5.51 ERA over his 11 games, going 3-2 for the duration of the season. He became a free agent after the season and opened the season on the injured list, due to his late signing. The Rangers wanted Lorenzen to build up his endurance and pitch a couple of minor-league starts before bringing him to the major-league active roster.
Then, there is the ultimate Titan vagabond — Floro. He joined the Washington Nationals via a one-year, $2.25 million contract. That brings the right-handed reliever from the Minnesota Twins to his seventh major-league team in nine seasons.
Splitting time between the Miami Marlins and the Twins, who acquired him in a July 26 trade, Floro was a combined 5-6 with a 4.76 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 56.2 innings. For Minnesota, Floro went 2-1 with a 5.29 ERA, 48 hits and 41 strikeouts in 39.2 innings, whereupon the Twins released him Sept. 29.
After the Angels fired Phil Nevin, Mark Kotsay became the lone Titan filling out lineup cards as a major-league manager. Kotsay began his third season helming the Athletics. The stalwart of the Titans’ 1995 College World Series championship team, Kotsay finds himself charged with keeping the migrating Athletics; they’re set to play in Sacramento starting in 2025, focused on playing baseball games on-field, rather than paying attention to the business games off it.
Wise, P.J. Pilittere and Mike Harkey comprise the Titans’ major-league coaching contingent. Wise moves from the Angels’ dugout as pitching coach to the Chicago White Sox as bullpen coach. Harkey returns to his bullpen coach role with the Yankees for a ninth season. Pilittere begins his second season as the assistant hitting coach with the Colorado Rockies.
