Five Bombers Named to Baseball America’s 2015 Top 10 TCL Prospects List

Bombers Feature Three Pitchers and Two Position Players in the Top 10

Bryan-College Station, TX (September 1, 2015) - After a dominant 2015 season with many successes and accolades for both the team as a whole and individual players, the Brazos Valley Bombers received more good news when Baseball America released its Top 10 Prospects list for the 2015 TCL season. The Bombers have five of the top ten prospects, including the top two overall prospects.

The No. 1 overall prospect in the TCL for the 2015 season was Bombers third baseman Garrett Benge. Garrett came into his first TCL campaign in 2015 with the Bombers following a tremendous spring, during which he was named the NJCAA Division I Player of the Year. Benge was one of thirteen current or former Bombers to be drafted this year, taken in the 22nd round by the Cleveland Indians and he was also one of ten Bombers to be named to the TCL All-Star Game in July. He did not sign with the Indians and instead will transfer to Oklahoma State University for the 2015-2016 school year. He was the “league's most advanced hitter” in 2015 showing an “all-fields approach,” according to John Manuel of Baseball America. 

The No. 2 overall prospect in the TCL this summer also suited up for the Bombers in 2015. Texas A&M pitcher Tyler Stubblefield only made a couple of starts for the three-time defending league champions as he has been working his way back from an injury that kept him out most of the spring. However, the 6’4” southpaw pitched well in both starts compiling a 2-0 record, with a 0.81 ERA while striking out 12 batters over 11 innings pitched for the Bombers in 2015.

The third Bombers player on list and the No. 4 overall prospect in the TCL is Michigan State’s Dakota Mekkes. The right-handed pitcher began the summer in the Bombers bullpen, but moved into the rotation in the second half of the season, finding success in both roles. Mekkes was selected for the 2015 TCL All-Star Game and earned the victory on the mound for the Bombers in the title-clinching game of the TCL Championship Series. Manuel writes that Mekkes is “an imposing figure on the mound,” and he features “more power than most TCL pitchers.”

The No. 6 prospect in the TCL and the second Bombers position player to make the list was no stranger to awards and accolades in the 2015 season. First baseman Geonte Jackson was the 2015 TCL Player of the Year, a 2015 TCL All-Star, the league batting champion in 2015, a one-time TCL Player of the Week honoree, and All-TCL First Team. Jackson can now add Top 10 League Prospect to his long list of accomplishments from this season as he appears in the No. 6 spot. According to John Manuel, Jackson “should be a priority senior sign next June if he hits in the spring.”

The final Bombers player to crack the Top 10 is right-handed pitcher Ethan Landon. Landon is a collegiate teammate of Dakota Mekkes at Michigan State University and was solid for the Three-Time TCL Champion Bombers all season long. Landon was named to the All-TCL Second Team in 2015 after going 4-0 during the regular season, with a 0.91 ERA and 24 strikeouts. Landon also pitched in the postseason for the Bombers, throwing the first no-hitter in TCL postseason history and the first nine-inning no-hitter in Bombers history in the opening round winner-take-all playoff to give the Bombers a berth in the TCL Championship Series.

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