Arkansas State Professional Athletes

Arkansas State Alumni Report | MLB | Sept. 20–26, 2026

The Moment Everyone Saw

Liam Hicks didn't make the highlight reel this week — he was the highlight reel, just not in the way any catcher wants.

In the seventh inning of Tampa Bay's Thursday loss to New York (4–6), Yankees shortstop George Lombard Jr. turned a wild pitch into a viral moment for the ages, leaping acrobatically after an initial slide to touch home plate and evade Hicks's tag. The clip spread fast. It was the kind of play that has a full SportsCenter shelf life: clean drama, clean villain, zero ambiguity. Hicks was the villain — or at least the supporting cast.

To be fair, there's no easy tag on a play like that. Lombard Jr.'s improvised leap was the sort of instinctive, highlight-reel athleticism that beats even well-positioned catchers. But the camera doesn't grade on a curve, and Hicks's missed tag scored New York's third run in what became a costly series game for the Rays.

Hicks Responds at the Plate

If the Thursday play stung, Hicks didn't let it linger. On Saturday against Philadelphia — a blowout 12–1 Tampa Bay loss that offered little to celebrate — Hicks went 2-for-the-game and scored a run, nudging his average back up to .282. It's a number that, context aside, holds up respectably for a catcher at this stage of the season.

Over the full week's action, Hicks hit in multiple games, drove in a run Thursday, and walked twice in Wednesday's 2–9 loss to the Yankees — a series that was rough on the Rays collectively, not just him. His season average has hovered in the .281–.286 band across the week, which speaks to a consistent, if unspectacular, offensive profile from a position where offense is always a bonus.

The Arkansas State product has quietly built himself into a legitimate big-league option behind the dish. One highlight-reel miss doesn't undo that. It does, however, mean his tagged-out frame is now part of Yankees lore for at least a news cycle or two.

Zuber Logs an Inning in Miami

Across the league, fellow Red Wolf Tyler Zuber made his weekly appearance out of the Marlins bullpen on Tuesday, tossing a clean inning against Chicago with a strikeout. His ERA sits at 5.67 — a number that tells a rougher story than any one outing — but Zuber continues to log MLB innings, which is no small thing for a reliever on a rebuilding Miami club.

No drama, no viral moment. Just work.

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For Arkansas State fans, the week ends with their most prominent alum at the center of a national baseball conversation — though Hicks would almost certainly trade the attention for one more inch on that tag.

Arkansas State alumni had a week to remember in the majors, with catcher Liam Hicks emerging as one of the Rays' most productive bats while reliever Tyler Zuber logged bullpen work for a Marlins team fighting for position in the NL East.

Hicks Heats Up for Tampa Bay

Liam Hicks made the most of a pivotal stretch of the Rays' schedule, homering twice between September 8 and September 12 and carrying a .286 average into the weekend.

The bigger moment came Tuesday, September 8, against Atlanta, when Hicks went deep for one of his two hits on the night, drove in two runs, scored once, and drew a walk — a complete performance at the plate. He followed that up Wednesday with another hit and an RBI against the Braves, keeping his average at .288 through that series.

Then came Saturday against Houston. Hicks added another hit in a 3-2 Rays win, nudging his season average to .286 — right in line with a quietly strong year behind the dish.

The Rays-Braves series was the week's showcase moment for Red Wolves alumni. In the decisive 7-1 Tampa Bay rout — one that also featured Junior Caminero's 39th home run of the season — Hicks was part of a four-man home run party that made short work of Atlanta's pitching. It was the kind of blowout that gets remembered come playoff positioning time, and Hicks had his fingerprints on it.

For a catcher batting .286 this deep into a season, Hicks is making a strong case that his Red Wolves days were just the starting point.

Zuber Grinding Through for Miami

Tyler Zuber's week was more complicated. The Marlins right-hander made appearances Wednesday against the Mets and Saturday against the Dodgers, logging 1.2 combined innings with two strikeouts across the two outings. Wednesday was rough — three earned runs surrendered in a single frame sent his ERA climbing to 4.93. He bounced back Saturday with a clean inning and a strikeout against Los Angeles, trimming his ERA back down to 4.79 in a Marlins 4-3 win.

Zuber's season has been a grind typical of a late-inning reliever on a rebuilding club, but his ability to answer a tough outing with a clean one speaks to the resilience that defined his game at Arkansas State. With Miami's roster in flux and roster decisions looming as the season closes out, every solid outing matters.

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Two Arkansas State alums, two different narratives — but both carrying the Red Wolf flag deep into a September MLB stretch run.

Liam Hicks Is Exactly What Tampa Needed

The trade grades are in, and Arkansas State alumnus Liam Hicks is passing with flying colors.

A month after the Tampa Bay Rays acquired the catcher, Sports Illustrated revisited the deal — and the verdict was glowing. Hicks has been described as "everything the Rays needed and more," providing a genuine offensive jolt to a club grinding through the final weeks of the season. For a franchise that bet on him at the deadline, the return has been hard to argue with.

The numbers back it up. Hicks hit the week of Aug. 30–Sep. 5 running hot. He picked up a hit in Sunday's contest against the Padres, followed it with a 2-for-? outing with an RBI against the Mets on Monday, and kept the momentum rolling through the week. By Saturday against the Rangers — a 7-6 Rays win — Hicks finished the week sitting at .287/.289, a mark that would rank as a strong average for any catcher in baseball, let alone a trade-deadline acquisition expected to stabilize a lineup on the fly.

What makes Hicks's run notable isn't just the consistency — it's the context. Catchers who change organizations mid-season often need weeks to acclimate to a new pitching staff while also producing offensively. Hicks has done both, and the Rays' stretch-run fortunes have tracked alongside his output. The SI re-grade piece framed the acquisition as a clear win for Tampa Bay's front office, and the week-by-week box scores have only reinforced that assessment.

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Tyler Zuber Navigates a Mixed Week in Miami

On the other side of the ledger, fellow Red Wolf alum Tyler Zuber had a more uneven stretch for the Miami Marlins out of the bullpen.

Zuber opened the week on a strong note, tossing 1.1 innings against the Nationals on Aug. 31 with three strikeouts while allowing just one earned run — the kind of high-leverage relief work that keeps ERA respectable. He followed with a clean one-inning outing against the Royals on Tuesday, and his ERA sat at 3.98 heading into the back half of the week.

Things got bumpy on Thursday. Zuber allowed two earned runs in just a third of an inning against the Royals, a rough blip that pushed his ERA to 4.50. He bounced back Saturday against the Cubs — one full inning, two strikeouts, no damage — bringing his ERA back down to 4.36 by week's end.

For a Marlins team not in the thick of a playoff race, Zuber's role as a bullpen piece still offers real value, and his strikeout ability remains evident. But the volatility of short-relief work was on full display this week: one bad outing can move the needle fast.

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The bottom line: Arkansas State has two active MLB alumni making their marks in September, one of them turning heads at the league level. Hicks's emergence as a deadline steal for the Rays is the marquee story, and it's one that figures to keep getting written as Tampa Bay pushes toward the postseason.