Two Dukes Making Real Noise
James Madison has never been a traditional MLB pipeline, but through the first two weeks of September, a pair of Dukes alumni are doing their best to change that perception. Outfielder Chase DeLauter and reliever Kevin Kelly are both producing at meaningful moments in their respective clubs' pennant-race pushes — and neither is showing signs of slowing down.
DeLauter Delivers at the Dish
The Cleveland Guardians' right fielder had his signature moment of the week on Wednesday, September 9, going 2-for-however-many against the Orioles with a home run, two RBI, and a run scored while batting .296. It was the kind of multi-tool performance that underscores why Cleveland has stuck with the young outfielder.
By Saturday, September 12, DeLauter was still holding strong in a doubleheader split against the Twins, drawing a walk in both games and sitting at .291–.293 across the twin bill. The slight tick downward in average is negligible context; the bigger picture is a player who entered the week hitting near .300 and left it there. For a JMU product carving out everyday-caliber at-bats in a competitive AL Central race, that's a genuine statement.
Kelly Earns His Flowers in Tampa Bay
On the pitching side, Kevin Kelly has quietly put together one of the more impressive résumés in the Rays bullpen. Rays fans voted him the team's top performer for the month of August — no small feat on an AL East-leading roster — and his September has been a mixed but instructive bag.
Kelly was sharp in his first two outings of the stretch: a clean inning with a strikeout against the Braves on Tuesday, September 8 (ERA: 2.13), followed by two-thirds of an inning and another punch-out against the Rangers on Sunday, September 6 (ERA: 2.16). Then came a rough third of an inning against Atlanta on Thursday, September 10, in which he allowed three earned runs — pushing his ERA to 2.51. Even with that blip, sitting at 2.51 through the grind of a full MLB season is reliever-of-note territory.
The ERA fluctuation is a reminder of how quickly a single bad outing can move the needle for a reliever logging short stints, but the baseline Kelly established in August — dominant enough to win a fan MVP poll on a playoff-contending team — speaks louder than one rough September appearance.
One More Duke to Watch
Away from the big leagues but still moving in the right direction: catcher Jason Schiavone, the Astros' No. 6 organizational prospect, earned a promotion from Double-A Corpus Christi to Triple-A Sugar Land. Schiavone led the Astros' system in home runs (31), RBI (86), slugging percentage (.533), and total bases (219) before the call-up — numbers that put a legitimate MLB debut squarely on the horizon for another JMU product.
The Dukes may not appear in the same breath as LSU or Vanderbilt when MLB scouts talk pipeline schools, but DeLauter, Kelly, and Schiavone are building a case — one at-bat, one inning, one promotion at a time.
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