Slate: Starting to pick through the weeds

Baseball

K-State Sports released the first of their weekly summer baseball update on Tuesday, first taking a look at the seven former Cats playing in the various levels of the MLB, then a breakdown of where 22 (this seems like a lot) current Cats are playing summer baseball.

Of note for the pros: Evan Marshall, who managed to beat the odds and return to major league baseball after taking a line-drive to the head back in 2015, has been bouncing between the Chicago White Sox and Triple-A Charlotte this season; Carlos Torres began his 15th season in the MLB, and is splitting time between the Detroit Tigers and Triple-A Toledo; and Nick Martini has spent all of the 2019 season at Triple-A Las Vegas after beginning the season on the injury list, but spent significant time with the Oakland Athletics in 2018.

For the current guys: senior Cam Thompson returned to the northeast this summer to play for the Harwich Mariners of the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League, and is joined this summer on the Mariners by sophomore Carson Seymour and freshman Connor McCullough, while the trio will see junior Zach Kokoska playing for the Orleans Firebirds and sophomore Eric Torres playing for the Wareham Gatemen. Thompson/Seymour/McCullogh is not the only “group” to be playing together this summer, as four other pairs or trios are on teams, and several others are in the same leagues. Not only is it great that so many are playing summer ball, it’s also great that so many are going to continue to be able to work with K-State teammates over the summer.

Basketball

An article on Friday from USA Basketball took a look K-State head coach Bruce Weber, and his “first turn” at the helm of a USA basketball team.

Football

We’re at day 74 until kickoff, which means that we’ve got profiles of starting guard Josh Rivas (76), and incoming freshman lineman Taylor Poitier (75).

This weekend, former K-State guard Abdul Beecham signed a rookie free agent contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, making him the fourth now-former-Wildcat to enter the NFL following the 2019 NFL Draft. He joins Dalton Risner, who is making himself known in Denver; Duke Shelley, who is just what the Bears needed on defense; and Alex Barnes, who should have been drafted, but found a good home in Tennessee.

Tyler Lockett has taken the mantle of the Seattle Seahawks number one receiver, and wants to be “uncomfortable” so he can continue to grow and evolve at his position.

We’re not all Chiefs fans around here, but if you have some free time you might enjoy listening to a new podcast offering from the Chiefs called “In the Trenches” that features former K-State baseball player and Chiefs Reporter BJ Kissel as well as former K-State All-American lineman and six-year NFL veteran (and friend of BotC) Nick Leckey.