Former Troy baseball players Kole Myers and Clete Hartzog earned their shot in Major League Baseball after a successful 2024 season.
Trojans’ outfielder Myers was drafted in the ninth round by the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Hartzog signed a free agent deal with the Chicago White Sox.
“Kole Myers is one of the best college baseball players I’ve ever had the fortune of being around, and we were lucky to have him for two years,” said Troy head coach Skylar Meade. “As a senior, he has the opportunity to move quickly through the Dodgers system.”
In 2024, Myers led the team with a 1.057 OPS and was a true power and speed threat. He hit 12 home runs to go along with 34 stolen bases.
“We’re in this world of scouting where people are worried if a guy is a little bit older,” Meade said. “Kole might be a little older because of his path to get to Troy, but if you tell me that guy doesn’t have the talent to be a big leaguer, then none of us know anything about the sport.”
Hartzog inked a deal with the White Sox after bolstering the Troy pitching staff in his only season with the team. The Florida transfer threw 53.1 innings as a starter and a reliever, striking out 57 batters and limiting opponents to a .221 batting average.
“He made a great move coming to us from Florida,” Meade said. “He did a really good job, and this opportunity is well-deserved.”
Hartzog struck out batters at a high clip, particularly during his starts at the beginning of the season. In a February game against SIUE, he threw five innings, striking out seven batters and only allowing one hit.
Myers’ journey to Troy was a long one. He arrived on campus after two years with Louisiana State University at Eunice, and he made an instant impact for the Trojans in 2023.
“He was a crazy recruiting story, we got him late in June of 2022,” said Ben Wolgamot, the associate head coach for Troy. “He wasn’t a highly recruited kid, but you knew he was a good player.”
In 2023, Myers started all 61 games and had a .404 on-base percentage. He also walloped a home run over 460 feet in the season opener against Evansville.
“Right when he stepped on campus, you knew he was different,” Wolgamot said. “He was the same guy every single day and had so much consistency and improvement during his time here.”
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