Kent State Professional Athletes

Two Kent State alumni are quietly making their presence felt as the 2026 MLB regular season enters its final week — one sharpening a dominant ERA in Texas, the other earning a role in the most star-studded rotation in baseball.

Jacob Latz, Rangers: Striking Out September

Jacob Latz has been one of the Rangers' most reliable bullpen arms down the stretch, and the numbers back it up. Through his two most recent outings, Latz has been nearly unhittable.

On Thursday, Sept. 24, he worked 1.2 innings against the Mets, surrendering just one earned run while striking out two — a solid, if imperfect, appearance. He bounced back emphatically two days later. On Saturday, Sept. 26, against the Twins in a 6-2 Texas win, Latz was electric: one inning, three strikeouts, zero runs. Clean, efficient, dominant.

The results have accumulated into a 2.13 ERA — a figure that would turn heads on any roster, let alone for a reliever navigating the pressure-packed final days of a pennant-race calendar. For a Kent State product trying to cement his place on a major league staff heading into the offseason, Latz couldn't have scripted a better closing argument.

Eric Lauer, Dodgers: Earning Rotation Trust in LA

Meanwhile, on the other coast, Eric Lauer has carved out something harder to quantify but arguably more prestigious: the trust of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

According to Yahoo Sports, the Dodgers have made a habit of identifying and deploying dependable rotation helpers in recent seasons, and Lauer has joined that lineage as one of the club's recent regular-season contributors. Getting innings on a Dodgers staff loaded with high-profile arms is no small feat — it requires consistency, versatility, and the ability to handle high-leverage situations without fanfare.

Lauer, a left-hander with a track record of durability in the majors, fits that profile. His inclusion in the Dodgers' rotation during a championship push speaks to how far the former Golden Flash has traveled since his college days in Kent, Ohio.

The Bigger Picture

It's worth noting that Kent State's MLB footprint extends beyond just Latz and Lauer. Luke Albright is with the Diamondbacks, Andrew Chafin is suiting up for the Twins, Jack Kartsonas is with the Rays, and Aidan Longwell is holding down first base for the Rockies. Jake Casey rounds out the group with the Blue Jays.

But this final week of September belongs to Latz and Lauer. One is silencing lineups in the American League with a strikeout rate that demands attention. The other is helping a World Series contender stay sharp when it matters most. For a mid-major program in northeastern Ohio, that's a remarkable story hiding in plain sight on September's box scores.

Kent State's MLB alumni told two very different stories this week — one a cautionary tale about a season slipping away, the other a quiet bullpen success story building toward something real.

Lauer's Rough Night Ends His Season Early

Eric Lauer's 2026 run with the Los Angeles Dodgers is over. The left-hander was placed on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation, a move that effectively ends his regular season with the club already deep into September.

The IL stint followed what can only be described as a brutal outing. Starting against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, September 2, Lauer surrendered 7 earned runs on 8 hits across just 3 innings in a 13-8 Dodgers loss — a performance that included multiple home runs to a Cardinals lineup unlikely to factor into October. His ERA sat at 5.23 at the time of the move.

The Dodgers didn't wait long to act. Blake Treinen, reinstated from the 60-day IL, took Lauer's roster spot, while Will Klein was simultaneously transferred to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man spot for Treinen. It was a clean, if sobering, shuffle — the kind of transaction that signals a team pivoting hard toward playoff preparation.

For Lauer, the elbow inflammation adds injury to insult after a stretch of poor outings. Whether he factors into the Dodgers' postseason picture — or their plans beyond 2026 — remains to be seen.

Latz Is Quietly Becoming a Weapon in Texas

While Lauer's week made headlines for the wrong reasons, Jacob Latz has been doing the opposite: staying out of the news and out of trouble.

The Rangers lefty appeared in three games during the period, and while his September 5 outing against the Rays was his roughest of the stretch — 2 earned runs allowed in 1.2 innings — it barely dented a season-long ERA that stands at 1.88. His August 30 appearance against the Brewers (1 inning, 1 strikeout, no runs) and his September 2 outing against the Athletics (0.2 innings, 2 strikeouts, no runs) kept the foundation solid.

A 1.88 ERA in a full season of bullpen work is not a fluke — it's a reliever who has found a role and is executing it. Latz hasn't generated the same column inches as some of his Rangers teammates, but for a team managing a roster through the final push, a reliever posting those numbers is exactly what a pitching staff needs.

The Kent State Ledger

The two Golden Flashes headlining this week's MLB activity represent the full spectrum of a late-season roster: one player going down at the worst time, another quietly earning trust at the best time. Lauer's next chapter — health permitting — will be worth watching this offseason. Latz, meanwhile, is making the case that his chapter in Texas is far from finished.