Three Fort Mill High grads keeping big league baseball dreams alive in the minors

With the dog days of summer in full swing, local minor league baseball players from Fort Mill are helping to lead their teams while keeping their big league dreams alive.

Veterans Andrew Tomasovich and Brett Netzer are joined by the newest addition to the minor leaguers club, Clay Helvey. All three players are Fort Mill High graduates.

The elder stateman of the group, Tomasovich, 24, is in his fourth year with the Oakland A’s organization and is currently pitching at the high Class A level for the Stockton Ports of the California League. Tomasovich was drafted in 2015 and is 1-1 with a 2.85 ERA in 31 games this season. He has pitched 41 innings this season, allowing 31 hits and 15 runs while walking 24 batters and striking out 53.

Drafted in 2017, Netzer, 22, is in his second year with the Boston Red Sox organization and is currently playing with the Salem Red Sox in the Carolina League in Salem, Va. He has appeared in 91 games in the high Class A level where he is hitting .287 with a home run and has 37 RBI this season.

Helvey, 21, is in his first year the San Francisco Giants organization and is still getting his feet wet in their rookie league in Arizona. Helvey has pitched in eight games so far this season and has an 0-1 record with a 10.80 ERA. In just 11 and two-thirds innings pitched, he has given up 24 hits and 15 runs, while walking eight and striking out eight. Helvey was drafted in June, going in the 22nd round.

Another player from Fort Mill who had hopes of making it the Majors now has an uncertain future, it seems. Kevin “KJ” Woods, 22, spent four years in the Miami Marlins and Chicago While Sox organizations, but missed the 2017 season due to injury. He started this season with the Sussex County Miners of the Canadian-American Association independent baseball league, but only appeared in six games through May 24 and is not currently on their roster.