Former KJCCC Baseball Stars Called Up By MLB Organizations

COLBY, Kan. – Two Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference baseball alumni have been called up for their respective Major League Baseball teams as the regular season enters the final month with playoff races heating up.

Former Cloud County Community College pitcher Erik Sabrowski (2018) was called up by the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday, August 28th to provide another left-handed pitcher out of the bullpen for the American League Central leaders. Prior to getting called up by the Guardians, Sabowski split the 2024 season between the Cleveland Guardians AAA team, the Columbus Clippers, and their AA farm team, the Akron RubberDucks. Across 48.2 innings, Sabrowski holds an 8-3 record with a 3.51 ERA and 79 strikeouts. In his minor league career, Sabrowski has kept a 14-3 record with a 2.81 ERA and 148 strikeouts across 99.1 innings pitched.

In his lone season at Cloud County, Sabrowski set a single-season record among T-Birds with 117 strikeouts on his way to being named the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division Pitcher of the Year. Sabrowski appeared in 66 innings in 12 games at Cloud, posting a 7-2 record with a 3.14 ERA, including a 1.56 ERA in conference play. He also hit .355 and led all Cloud County players in home runs (11) and runs batted in (58). His other honors included First Team All-Conference, First Team All-Region 6, and KJCCC West honorable mention selection as a designated hitter.

Just four days later on September 1, former Hutchinson Community College standout and NJCAA National Player of the Year Michael Helman was called up by the Minnesota Twins organization as part of the on-field roster expansion that takes place for all MLB teams from 25 players to 40 players beginning September 1. Helman, who played at Hutchinson in 2016 and 2017, is the first Blue Dragon to be called up to a major league team since Andy Dirks and Thad Weber in 2013.

This season at AAA St. Paul, in 63 games Helman was hitting .283 with 15 doubles, 13 home runs, and 43 RBIs this season. Over his six seasons in the Twins' minor league system, Helman has played 468 games with 452 hits, 68 home runs, and 247 RBIs.