NEWS

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – The list of New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) alumni to make their major league debut continues to climb, as three more players were called up to the show since the beginning of this season.

On May 11th, former Keene Swamp Bat starting pitcher Ryan Pepiot made his big-league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The same day, reliever Cam Alldred, a 2017 member of the Upper Valley Nighthawks, took the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Another former Swamp Bat, relief pitcher John Bennett Sousa, made the Chicago White Sox out of camp and threw an inning in their first game of the year against the Detroit Tigers.

These three NECBL alumni joined Jeremy Peña, who debuted for the Houston Astros on opening day, bringing the list of NECBL Alumni in the majors to 188.

Pepiot, a member of the 2017 Keene Swamp Bats, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He stayed local, attending Butler University to play college baseball. After his first year pitching at Butler, Pepiot made five starts for the Swamp Bats, striking out 19 batters in 22 innings. 

Pepiot was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Butler, becoming the highest pick in school history. In his first professional season, he tallied a 1.93 ERA, striking out 31 batters in 23.1 innings with Dodgers Mota (Arizona League) and the Great Lake Loons. (Class A Midwest League) 

After taking a year off due to the pandemic, Pepiot continued with the Tulsa Drillers (Double A Central) and the Oklahoma City Dodgers (Triple A West). In 2021, Pepoit tallied 127 strikeouts in 101.1 IP between AA-AAA. 

Pepiot entered the 2022 season as the #6 ranked prospect in the Dodgers system via MLB Pipeline, and the #99 ranked prospect across Major League Baseball via Fangraphs. Pepiot pitched three shutout innings in his Major League debut, striking out three, including the first batter he faced. 

Pepiot became the 4th Dodgers pitcher since 1901 to pitch at least three shutout innings with three or more strikeouts, and one or less hits allowed in their Major League debut. 

Originally from Batavia, Ohio, Alldred went to high school at Country Day High School in Cincinnati before playing college baseball at the University of Cincinnati. 

After his sophomore season at Cincinnati in which he pitched 29.2 innings with a 4.85 ERA and 21 strikeouts, Alldred joined the Nighthawks, where he started 8 games. He had a 2.30 ERA with Upper Valley in 47 innings, striking out 44 batters and ending the season with a 4-3 record. Alldred was also named an NECBL all-star during his time with the Nighthawks.

Drafted with the 714th pick of the 24th round in the 2018 MLB Draft by the Pirates, Alldred played for the West Virginia Black Bears of the MLB Draft League and the West Virginia Power of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball before starting his minor league journey. Once in the Pirates system, he spent the 2019 season with the Greensboro Grasshoppers, Pittsburgh’s High-A affiliate. After the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the 2020 minor league baseball season, Alldred was assigned to Pittsburgh’s Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve in April of 2021. In 28 games with Altoona, Alldred posted a 2.53 ERA in 28 games, pitching just over 53 innings. During the last month of the 2021 season, Alldred was called up to the team’s Triple-A affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians. He posted a 0.71 ERA in five games with the club in 2021 and a 1.47 ERA in 9 games in 2022. 

On May 11th, the Pirates optioned RHP Beau Sulser to Triple-A and selected Alldred’s contract from Indianapolis. During his debut with the Pirates later that day, Alldred pitched 1+ innings, striking out a batter while giving up 1 hit. The 25-year-old left hander was optioned back to the Indians on May 13th.

A native of North Palm Beach, Florida, Sousa attended Benjamin High School where he earned many accolades as a pitcher including being named as the 2014 Second-team All-American by Perfect Game his senior year. Out of high school, he attended the University of Virginia and played five games with the NECBL Keene Swamp Bats. He had three starts in his NECBL career and tallied a 1.62 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 16.2 innings pitched. He then played and started one game for the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) where he had a 4.50 ERA with one strike out in four innings.  

He made his UVa debut prior to playing in the NECBL and CCBL where he played four seasons and accumulated 12 wins with a 5.50 ERA, 6 saves, and racked up 130 strikeouts in 108 innings in his college career.  

Sousa was initially drafted in 2014 by the Washington Nationals in the 34th round of the First-Year Player Draft but opted to go to UVa. He was then selected 288th overall in the 10th round of the 2018 MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox.  

Sousa made his professional debut with the Kannapolis Intimidators (Class A South Atlantic League) and Great Falls Voyagers (Rookie Pioneer League) where he went 2-0 with an ERA of 1.27, 5 saves, and 42 strikeouts in 20 relief appearances. He followed that performance with a combined 3-6 record in 2019 and recorded 74 strikeouts in 43 relief appearances with Kannapolis, the Winston-Salem Dash (Class A+ Carolina League), and the Birmingham Barons (Class AA Southern League).  

After missing 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he capped off his minor league career with Birmingham and the Charlotte Knights (Class AAA Triple-A East) by posting a 3.61 ERA with 71 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.20 over 41 relief appearances. Through six games during the 2022 Spring Training, Sousa entered the 40-man roster where he was a relief pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. He picked up his first win on April 27 against the Kansas City Royals. Through the first 15 games, he has recorded an ERA of 3.75 with one save and 9 strikeouts over 12 innings.