Chanclas Announce Full TCL Roster

San Antonio, TX – The Flying Chanclas de San Antonio announced Tuesday afternoon its full roster for the upcoming 2020 Texas Collegiate League season.

Flying Chanclas Opening Day Roster

A Texas native, John McLaren, who will be the skipper for the Chanclas, brings 50 years of professional playing and coaching experience to the position. McLaren served as a big league manager on two occasions, first in Seattle, where he guided the Mariners to a 68-88 record from July 2007 to June of 2008. In 2011, McLaren was interim manager for the Washington Nationals for three games (2-1 record) in between the transition from Jim Riggleman to Davey Johnson.

McLaren was selected in the 7th round of the 1970 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Westbury High School in Houston, TX. The former catcher/infielder played all seven of his professional seasons (1970-76) in the Houston organization. His first managerial position came in 1979 for the Utica Blue Jays, a Toronto Blue Jays short-season affiliate. McLaren would go on to manage at two other levels of the Toronto system, Single-A Kinston from 1981-1982 and Double-A Knoxville from 1983-1985. He piloted Knoxville to back-to-back Southern League championships in 1984 and 1985. From there, McLaren joined Toronto’s big league staff, where he coached through the 1990 season.

After spending the 1991 season with the Boston Red Sox as bullpen coach, McLaren joined Lou Pinella’s staff with the Cincinnati Reds in 1992. McLaren would hold various positions on Pinella’s coaching staffs with the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1993-2005. In addition to his MLB managerial experience, McLaren also managed Team China in both the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics. He also was the third base coach for Team USA during the 2006 WBC.

Joining McLaren’s Chanclas staff as pitching coach is former University of Texas legend and eight-year big league hurler, Calvin Schiraldi. The Austin product (Westlake HS) was the MVP of the 1983 College World Series, where he led the Longhorns to its then fourth national title with future seven-time Cy Young award winner, Roger Clemens.

Schiraldi was drafted by the New York Mets with the 27th overall selection of the 1983 MLB June Amateur Draft.

After being traded to Boston in November of 1985, Schiraldi had his best season in 1986 for the eventual American League Champions, going 4-2 with a 1.41 ERA in 25 games. Schiraldi also pitched for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers. Schiraldi has been the Head Baseball Coach at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Austin, TX since 1997.

Rounding out the Flying Chanclas field staff will be hitting coach, Bryan Aughney. Since 2017, Aughney has been the Head Baseball Coach at Our Lady of the Lake University here in San Antonio. Prior to arriving at OLLU, Aughney was the Head Baseball Coach at Harlingen High School and the University of Texas at Brownsville (now University of Texas Rio Grande Valley).

The field staff will be presiding over a roster littered with San Antonio-area stars.

Porter Brown headlines the position player group with San Antonio ties, earning three letters at Reagan High School. Brown was a member of the state all-tournament team as a junior and a senior for the Rattlers. His true freshman season at TCU in 2019 was cut short due to injury, causing him to redshirt. However, Brown made his mark in that limited time, earning Big 12 Newcomer of the week (Feb. 18) and Big 12 Academic All-Rookie Team.

Kyte McDonald, currently at Mississippi State University, is well known in San Antonio for his tremendous career at Antonian College Preparatory High School. The speedy outfielder lettered four times and led the Apaches to four straight District and Area titles. A well-rounded athlete, McDonald also lettered four times in football and three times in track and field.

Joining McDonald and Porter in the San Antonio outfield during TCL play will be Jordan Thompson. A former star at Boerne-Champion, Thompson had a highly productive 2020 season at Grayson College (Denison, TX), batting .435 (27-for-62) with six doubles, two triples, five homers and 21 RBI in 19 games. Shortly after the completion of the season, Thompson announced his intentions to continue his college career at Texas A&M University.

Tyler LaRue fills one of the catcher spots on the Chanclas roster. LaRue, son of former big leaguer and Smithson Valley alum Jason LaRue, was a 2019 graduate of Blanco High School. He was selected by Washington in the 38th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, but opted to attend Rice University, where he played in 10 games this season. LaRue will continue his career at Grayson next fall.

Jaime Ramirez Jr., a Holy Cross of San Antonio graduate, will be a key cog in the Chanclas pitching depth chart. The southpaw pitched to a 3.21 ERA in seven games this season for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, striking out 18 in just 14 innings of work.

Tyler Flores, a Clark High School alum, joins the Chanclas roster from Texas A&M University-Kingsville. In six appearances (four starts) during the 2020 season for the Javelinas, Flores went 0-1 with a 4.03 ERA and fanned 18 batters over 22.1 IP. A First-Team All-District selection at Clark, Flores was also 2018 Freshman of the Year for the Lone Star Conference.

Zach DeLeon, who starred for Hondo High School, will be another member of the Chanclas pitching staff. DeLeon made three appearances in 2020 for UTSA and will continue his collegiate career at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Flying Chanclas Opening Day Roster

San Antonio will open the 2020 TCL season in Amarillo with a three-game set from June 30-July 2. The club’s home opener is slated for Friday, July 3 vs. Acadiana.

Social distancing protocols will be in effect during all games at The Wolff. For more information on Wolff Stadium’s COVID-19 Readiness Plan and protocols, click https://bit.ly/2BRnd40.

Fans can purchase TCL tickets at www.samissions.com or at the Wolff Stadium Box Office. For TCL questions or more information, please call 210-675-7275.

ABOUT THE TEXAS COLLEGIATE LEAGUE

The TCL is currently represented by 250-plus players from 91 different colleges and universities. Some of the more nationally-recognized schools sending their standouts to the TCL include Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, Cal State Fullerton, Dallas Baptist, Houston, Long Beach State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, Pacific, Rice, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas-Arlington, Texas State, Texas Tech, and Wichita State, among others.

The formation of the Texas Collegiate League was announced on September 24, 2003. The league is owned and operated by the Haddock Foundation, a section 501(c)3 organization. Gerald Haddock, a minority owner and General Counsel of the Texas Rangers from 1989-98 and a passionate baseball fan, became the league's Chair and CEO. Since the league was established, 88 alumni with ties to the Texas Collegiate League have been drafted by Major League teams or signed by professional independent baseball squads. Notable alumni include Paul Goldschmidt, Hunter Pence, Jake Arrieta, Matt Carpenter, Chris Davis and Brandon Belt.

The Texas Collegiate League exists to provide the best summer league experience for the best professional prospects from colleges throughout the country. The league will allow those players with eligibility remaining to showcase and improve their skills in a wholesome, minor league-type atmosphere using wooden bats. The league is committed to providing quality, inexpensive entertainment in a small-town, intimate atmosphere that is distinctively Texan, while helping promote the game of baseball in the communities involved. For more information, visit www.texascollegiateleague.com.

The league comprises 10 total teams made up of active college players (rising sophomores to seniors) from different colleges and universities across the nation. Four teams already affiliated with the TCL include the Acadiana Cane Cutters (Lafayette, LA), Brazos Valley Bombers (Bryan-College Station, TX), Texarkana (TX) Twins and Victoria (TX) Generals. Joining the league in 2020 are five MiLB organizations, including Double-A Amarillo (two teams), Frisco and Tulsa, and Triple-A Round Rock and San Antonio.