Texas Professional Athletes

Kody Clemens had himself a week. The Twins first baseman went 7-for-his-last-several with a home run, three RBI, and multiple multi-hit games, serving as the headliner in a quietly productive stretch for Texas alumni across MLB.

Clemens Carries the Bat

Clemens was the story from start to finish. He opened the week Sunday, Aug. 23 with a two-hit, one-RBI performance in a 5-7 loss to the Padres, then kept rolling Tuesday against the Athletics — going 2-for-his-game with two RBI in a convincing 9-2 Twins win. He added a hit and a walk Thursday before saving his best for last: on Saturday against the White Sox, Clemens went 2-for-2 with a homer, an RBI, a run scored, and a walk in a 4-7 contest, pushing his average to .240. For a player who entered the week sitting at .238, it was the kind of sustained output that earns roster security heading into September.

Arms on the Mound

Two Texas pitchers took the ball this week with mixed results.

Chase Shugart worked two innings for the Phillies on Tuesday against the Mariners, striking out four — an impressive rate — while allowing one earned run in a 2-9 loss. The outing nudged his ERA to 4.70, but the punchout total signals the stuff is still there for the former Longhorn reliever.

Ty Madden had a rougher go in Detroit. The Tigers right-hander entered against the Royals on Sunday, Aug. 23 and threw 1.2 innings, racking up three strikeouts but surrendering three earned runs. His ERA sits at 3.46, a number that speaks better to his season as a whole than this particular outing.

Around the Horn

Elsewhere in the league, David Hamilton's week with the Brewers featured a notable high and a costly low. The light-hitting Milwaukee infielder came through with a go-ahead two-out, two-run single against the Mets — only to see the Brewers fall in a bizarre 3-2 loss in the 10th inning, with Hamilton's error playing a role in the final out. It was the kind of week that captures a journeyman's existence in the big leagues: heroics and heartbreak, sometimes in the same box score.

Bryce Elder continued to give the Braves reasons to believe. The former Longhorn righty went six strong innings against the Dodgers — a World Series contender — helping Atlanta to a 4-3 win behind Ozzie Albies' two-run performance. Elder's durability against elite competition has been a consistent theme, and this start added another data point to that case.

The Bottom Line

Texas baseball's pipeline remains alive and well in MLB. Clemens is the week's standout — his multi-game consistency at the plate for Minnesota is the kind of production that matters in a playoff race. Elder's performance against Los Angeles is the marquee pitching line. And while Shugart and Madden had uneven nights, the strikeout totals from both suggest the arsenal hasn't gone anywhere. For a program with alumni spread across nearly every roster in the league, this was one of the better collective weeks of the summer.

Brett Baty Torches Former Teammate in Grand Fashion

The most Texas-on-Texas moment of the MLB week: Brett Baty stepped in against Braves starter Bryce Elder — both ex-Longhorns — and launched a first-pitch grand slam to blow open a Mets-Braves game in the first inning, giving New York a 5-0 lead. Baty turned on it with two outs, and Elder never recovered.

It was a brutal night all around for Elder, who surrendered multiple homers in what became an 8-5 Mets victory. The Braves couldn't get their own long ball going, and Elder's implosion proved too deep a hole to climb out of. A painful Longhorn-vs.-Longhorn split: one alum had his best moment of the week, the other his worst.

Chase Shugart Gets the Phillies Call

Chase Shugart earned a Philadelphia Phillies promotion this week amid a round of bullpen roster moves, and he wasted little time making himself useful. The right-hander tossed 1.2 innings with two strikeouts in a Wednesday appearance against the Cardinals, then followed with a clean one-inning, two-strikeout outing against the Twins on Saturday. Entering the week with a 4.73 ERA, he trimmed it to 4.61 by the end — modest progress, but the callup itself is the story. The Phillies specifically chose Shugart over fellow prospect Alex McFarlane for reasons tied to their current bullpen construction, underscoring that he's earned real organizational trust.

Kody Clemens Keeps the Longhorn Week Rolling

Kody Clemens quietly put together a productive stretch for the Twins. On Sunday, Aug. 9, he launched a home run against the Brewers, going 1-for-3 with two RBI, a run, and a walk — his best single-game output of the period. He added a hit, an RBI, a run, and another walk on Wednesday against the Orioles, keeping his average steady around .230. Not a flashy week overall, but Clemens contributed across multiple games at a position of need for Minnesota.

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Three Longhorns. Three different storylines. Baty's grand slam was the headline — a first-pitch rocket off a former UT teammate that flipped the tone of the game in the opening frame. But the week's full picture is just as compelling: Shugart climbing into a legitimate big-league bullpen role in the middle of a pennant race, and Clemens providing consistent production for a Twins club still grinding through August. Texas has a habit of manufacturing MLB depth, and this week was a useful reminder of just how many ex-Longhorns are woven into the fabric of a league roster.

The biggest Texas Longhorns story in MLB this week had nothing to do with a box score — it was a roster move two years in the making.

The Rangers activated left-hander Jordan Montgomery from the 60-day injured list on Monday, ending an absence that wiped out all of 2025 and the first part of this season. Montgomery is back on a major league mound for the first time in well over a year, giving a Rangers rotation that has leaned heavily on depth arms a legitimate veteran presence on the left side.

The cost, however, fell on another Longhorn. To clear space on both the active and 40-man rosters, Texas designated Nolan Kingham for assignment. The timing stings for Kingham, who tossed a scoreless inning in his final outing on August 4 before the Rangers dropped that game to the Giants 1–5. His ERA sat at 9.00 in his brief 2026 appearances — not the kind of number that makes a DFA easy to fight off. Kingham has 10 days to be traded, claimed off waivers, or accept an outright assignment to the minors.

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Elder Quietly Having a Week

While the Rangers drama dominated the Longhorn headlines, Bryce Elder made a case for some recognition in Atlanta. The Braves right-hander delivered arguably his best start of the season during the week, one-hitting the Marlins over 7.0 innings in a performance that landed at the perfect moment — the Braves had taken heat for not landing a frontline starter at the trade deadline, and Elder responded by looking like one. He followed it up with continued strong outings as Atlanta kept its win streak against Miami alive. Elder's work came at a critical stretch and, according to reporting, helped validate the front office's inaction before the deadline.

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Longhorns in the Bullpen

Relief arms Chase Shugart (Phillies) and Ty Madden (Tigers) logged innings during the week with mixed results. Shugart worked a total of 3.2 innings across three appearances against the Blue Jays and Nationals, allowing two earned runs and striking out three — functional work for a middle reliever but not enough to move his ERA off 4.93. Madden was sharper in his Saturday appearance against the Giants, punching out one over 2.0 clean innings to push his ERA down to 2.25, a mark that would lead any Longhorn pitching conversation if it were attached to a bigger role.

Position player Kody Clemens held down a roster spot in Minnesota all week, going 2-for-his-appearances with a pair of runs scored. His average dipped slightly from .238 to .231 across the week as the Twins worked through series against the Mariners, Royals, and Brewers.

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Montgomery's return is the headline, full stop. Whether he's the same pitcher who was posting sub-4.00 ERAs before the injury is the question Rangers fans — and Longhorn alumni — are holding their breath over. Kingham's DFA is the uncomfortable footnote. Two Longhorns, one roster spot, one winner.