Diamond Dolphins Dana Hills baseball alumni experience up-and-down 2023 pro seasons

BY ZACH CAVANAGH, DANA POINT TIMES

As major and minor league baseball eye the second half of their seasons coming out of the All-Star break, let’s check in on the four Dana Hills High School products in pro baseball:

BLAKE TAYLOR

Taylor looked set to stay on the Houston Astros’ major-league roster heading into Opening Day, but the 2013 Dolphin graduate was put on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow strain to start the season. Taylor’s rehab stint with the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys turned into a full-time assignment at the midway point of the season.

In 30 games with the Space Cowboys this season, Taylor has posted a 4.86 ERA over 33 1/3 innings. It’s the most minor-league games in a season for Taylor since 2019—his last full season in the minor leagues before his big-league debut in 2020.

Hans Crouse

For the third time in his young career and for the second consecutive year, the 24-year-old Crouse has had a season derailed by injury.

In 2019, while he was still in the Texas Rangers organization, the 2017 Dolphin graduate had surgery to remove bone spurs during the season. Crouse was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies organization in 2021 and made his major-league debut that September.

However, Crouse’s upward trajectory was halted in 2022, as right bicep tendinitis limited him to just five starts with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Just 15 games into 2023, Crouse was sidelined again with an undisclosed injury in late May. He was moved from the seven-day injured list to the 60-day injured list on June 19.

Out of the bullpen this season, Crouse posted a 6.86 ERA and a 1-3 record.

Luke Williams

It’s been a winding journey for Williams, who is in his second organization of the season and his fifth in two years.

The 2015 Dolphin graduate had come up through the Phillies system and made his major-league debut in June 2021. In 2022, Williams was designated for assignment by the Phillies and picked up across the country by the San Francisco Giants. Williams went up and down for the Giants, and in May, he was designated for assignment again. Once again, Williams went across the country after being picked up by the Miami Marlins.

The 26-year-old infielder signed a minor league deal for 2023 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Williams got four games of action with the big club but spent most of the season with the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers. Williams then got claimed off waivers once more to join the Atlanta Braves organization and is currently with the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers.

Justin Sterner

For the second straight season, Sterner has split time between the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits and Triple-A Durham Bulls in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.

The 2015 Dolphin graduate played 11 games for the Biscuits with a 4.26 ERA over 19 innings and has pitched in 11 games for the Bulls with a 7.08 ERA over 20 1/3 innings.

Sterner signed a free agent deal with the Marlins coming out of BYU in 2020 and was traded to the Rays in 2021. DP