UNC Wilmington Professional Athletes

Two UNC Wilmington alumni are carving out meaningful roles in the thick of MLB's September playoff race — and neither is showing signs of fading when it matters most.

Ryan Jeffers Is Back, and the Twins Need Every Bit of It

The most compelling UNCW story of the week belongs to Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, who has quietly turned into a September weapon after a hamate surgery derailed his power earlier in the season. According to Sports Illustrated, Jeffers has caught fire during Minnesota's critical stretch run — the kind of power resurgence a club chasing a playoff spot cannot script but desperately needs.

The numbers back the narrative. Jeffers hit in multiple games across the week, collecting two hits and a walk against the Tigers on Tuesday, Sept. 8, while maintaining a .270 batting average. The production was no aberration — he'd already knocked in a run against Detroit the night before and drawn another walk in the White Sox series opener on Sunday, Sept. 6. Earlier in that same White Sox series, Jeffers crushed a three-run homer, a swing that highlighted exactly the kind of middle-of-the-order threat Minnesota needs from its backstop down the stretch.

Jeffers' resurgence is notable not just for the stats but for what it signals: the power that made him a rotation piece behind the plate is fully back. For a Twins club fighting for positioning in September, a catcher who can change a game with one swing is a luxury, not a given.

Evan Phillips Holding His Ground in LA's Bullpen

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Evan Phillips continues to work high-leverage innings for an NL-contending Dodgers squad. Phillips appeared three times during the period — against the Nationals on Sept. 6, the Reds on Sept. 8, and the Marlins on Sept. 11 — logging clean outings in each game.

His best work came against Cincinnati: a full inning of work with two strikeouts in a Dodgers 6-3 victory. He followed that with another inning against Washington and a brief, efficient appearance to open the Miami series, finishing the week with a 3.43 ERA. For a Dodgers bullpen managing workloads across a long season and a playoff push, Phillips' ability to take the ball in tight spots without surrendering damage is exactly the profile LA's pitching staff leans on.

Phillips also made news off the mound, with the Dodgers announcing personal news involving the right-hander ahead of the Marlins series opener — a reminder that, for all the September intensity, life off the field doesn't pause for the standings.

The Seahawk Bottom Line

Jeffers and Phillips represent the opposite ends of the alumni spectrum this week — one a bat the Twins are building September around, the other a trusted arm the Dodgers keep reaching for when the game is on the line. Both are UNC Wilmington products making their presence felt in the final weeks of a season where the margin for error is razor thin. For Seahawks fans tracking the MLB stretch run, there's plenty to watch.

When Ryan Jeffers gets hot, he gets scorching. The UNC Wilmington product put together one of the most dominant weeks of his career from Aug. 30 through Sept. 5, going deep four times, driving in 11 runs, and anchoring back-to-back blowout wins over the Detroit Tigers that weren't close from the first pitch.

The damage was concentrated over a ferocious three-game stretch against Detroit. On Aug. 31, Jeffers went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI as Minnesota rolled. He followed that with another hit and an RBI on Sept. 2 before turning his sights on the White Sox — launching his fourth homer of the stretch on Sept. 5, a three-RBI shot that pushed his week's total to 11.

The centerpiece came in a pair of blowouts that sent a message across the AL. In a 15-2 demolition of Detroit, Jeffers hit a three-run shot alongside a Royce Lewis blast as the Twins turned the game into a laugher early. Then, in the very next meeting, he went yard twice in an 11-1 drubbing — a two-homer, multi-RBI performance that had Minnesota's dugout looking like a home run derby celebration. Kody Clemens and Walker Jenkins added solo shots in that second game, but Jeffers was the clear headliner.

For the week, the catcher hit .271 and reached base with purpose, adding walks across the stretch. He's hitting .271 on the season — numbers that underscore how this run is an amplification of a quietly strong year rather than an outlier.

Jeffers has always carried the promise of a middle-of-the-order bat at catcher, a premium skill set in a position that rarely produces power. This week was a reminder of exactly why the Twins have kept him locked in. At 28, he's playing his best baseball at the right time of year.

No other UNCW alumni had standout weeks in the box score — though Evan Phillips continued logging innings for the Dodgers, tossing a clean frame against the Cardinals on Sept. 4 with a strikeout while holding his ERA at 3.86. For the Seahawk faithful, though, this week belonged entirely to Jeffers and that beautiful, violent swing.

UNCW doesn't produce MLB talent at the rate of the sport's factory programs, but Jeffers is the kind of alumnus who makes everyone back in Wilmington pay close attention come September.

Austin Warren Dodges the Knife — and Returns to the Mound

The best story out of UNCW's MLB alumni this week didn't come with a stat line. It came with a sigh of relief.

Mets right-hander Austin Warren, who feared his season — and possibly much more — was finished after landing on the 15-day IL last month, was activated from the injured list on Tuesday. The bigger news: he avoided Tommy John surgery, a procedure that would have cost him the better part of two years. Warren told reporters he's "excited" to be pitching again, a word that lands differently when you've spent weeks staring down the possibility of a ligament reconstruction.

The Mets made room by optioning right-hander Chayce McDermott to Triple-A Syracuse. Warren's fellow UNCW Seahawk Brett Banks is also on the New York roster, giving the Mets a two-Wilmington pipeline in the bullpen — a fun footnote for Seahawks fans keeping score.

Jeffers Keeps Hitting in Minnesota

While Warren's return was the headline, Ryan Jeffers quietly had a productive week behind the plate for the Twins. The catcher went 2-for-the-night on Tuesday against Atlanta, driving in two and scoring one as Minnesota beat the Braves 4-1 — a win highlighted by Jeffers' two-run double that put the game away late, per Sportsnet. He entered the weekend hitting .279, maintaining one of the more consistent averages of his career this season.

Jeffers has been a steady presence in a Twins lineup that has leaned on him all year, and this week was more of the same: professional at-bats, timely production, no wasted trips to the plate.

Phillips Grinds Through a Bumpy Stretch

Out in Los Angeles, Evan Phillips is navigating a tougher stretch than Dodgers fans have come to expect from him. The UNCW product made multiple appearances this week — logging two-thirds of an inning against the Rockies on Wednesday before tossing a clean inning against Colorado on Tuesday — but his ERA climbed to 4.91 by Saturday after back-to-back appearances against Pittsburgh. His name popped up in a feature on teammate Tanner Scott's "BBL" era in the Dodgers' clubhouse; Phillips admitted he didn't fully understand the nickname's origin at first, which may be the most relatable thing a reliever has said all season.

Phillips remains a key arm in one of baseball's deepest bullpens, but the numbers suggest he's working through something. Whether a mechanical fix or just a rough patch, the Dodgers will need him locked in as the postseason race tightens.

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The Warren story is the one to bookmark. A pitcher who thought his career's trajectory had just changed irreversibly is back on a major league mound, throwing for a contender. For UNCW fans, it's a reminder that the Seahawks' MLB footprint keeps growing — and that the best chapters sometimes come after the scariest ones.