West Rusk’s Tavarez joins Prospect League

Published 4:10 pm Tuesday, July 15, 2025

A former West Rusk Raider pitcher joined the summer collegiate Prospect League last week to play for the Johnstown Mill Rats.

Kullin Tavarez, a 2025 graduate of West Rusk High School, got the invite to pitch for Johnstown for the final few weeks of their season from their head coach Sean Stevens, who will also be Tavarez’ pitching coach at Middle Georgia State University. The Mill Rats are based in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and are in the Northeast division of the Prospect League’s Eastern Conference.

“I thought it would be a pretty good opportunity to just go up against some really good players and get ready for my first season of college,” said Tavarez, a righty who also spent the first half of his summer pitching for the Surfside Sting Rays in the Beach Collegiate Baseball League based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. “I want to learn how to locate my pitches better. That’s what I’m hoping to get the most from it. Learning how college hitters swing the bat, how they act like and learning the culture of college baseball in general.”

Tavarez first joined the Mill Rats for a double header on the road against the Chillicothe Paints on Thursday. On Friday they were in Lafayette, Indiana playing the Lafayette Aviators where Tavarez threw his first pitches in front of a crowd of 1,400 spectators. He stepped in as relief pitcher in the 10th inning of a game tied 10-10 with a runner in scoring position. Tavarez threw just three pitches and had a 1-1 count when the batter Brody Chrisman drove in the Aviators’ winning run with a grounder between first and second base.

Johnstown has 17 regular games left in the season. They start a six-game homestand at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Lafayette, playing four straight games against the Aviators and then hosting the Champion City Kings Saturday and Sunday.

Johnstown is 20-18 on the season and 3-9 in the Northeast conference.

The Prospect League had its inaugural season in 2009 and its precursor was the Central Illinois Collegiate League, founded in 1963. Today it features 18 teams across the Western and Eastern conferences that play 60 games a season, developing college players and providing a schedule similar to Minor League Baseball.