Kentwood grads meet again in the big leagues

Baseball and Washington state are enemies by nature. Baseball is played under the summer sun, outside and with a hatred for bad weather. Like rain.

We here in the upper left are all too familiar with overcast skies and a steady dose of rain. But as of recently, there has been a spell of Washingtonians making a name for themselves on the diamond at the highest level.

For the opening series of the 2024 Major League Baseball season, fans here at T-Mobile Park got a little taste of that impact. Kentwood High School grads Reese McGuire and Austin Voth both put on the uniforms and got on the field a couple of times in the first few games of the season.

The two of them couldn’t have gotten to the league in more different ways. McGuire was the 14th pick back in 2013 out of Kentwood, while Voth, who was drafted in the fifth round (166th overall), played college ball at the University of Washington.

Voth and McGuire both made their MLB debut in 2018. McGuire made his debut with the Blue Jays, being traded to Toronto from Pittsburgh in 2016. Voth was drafted by the Nationals and made his debut with the club after playing six years of minor league ball with Washington.

McGuire and Voth have both played primarily on the East Coast up to this point. Voth played with Washington and Baltimore before signing with the Mariners. McGuire has played with Toronto, the White Sox and Boston in his pro career so far.

McGuire and Voth both played in the same game on March 30 in the penultimate game of the series between the Mariners and Red Sox this season.

Voth pitched the top half of the ninth inning of the 1-1 game. He struck out three batters while walking Triston Casas with two outs, keeping his ERA at 0.00 so far this season.

McGuire entered as a pinch hitter in the top of the 10th inning and hit a double for his first hit of the season. He later scored the fourth Red Sox run of that inning to extend the Boston lead ,which would end up being tarnished by a Julio Rodriguez walk-off hit for Seattle.

McGuire hasn’t fared well against the Mariners, having played them home and away in almost every year of his career. He is 11-for-42 in 14 games against the Mariners, giving him a .261 average. In the series this season, he drastically helped that average going 3-for-6 to start the season in three games.

Voth on the other hand only pitched against the Mariners one time, and that was back in 2022 at T-Mobile Park with Baltimore. He pitched three innings and gave up one earned run in a 9-3 Mariner win.

Voth and McGuire have had their fair share of matchups nationwide, but have never played on the same team since Kentwood 10 years ago.

Of all the pitchers on the Mariners staff right now, McGuire has faced Voth the most. But it is a matchup that favors Voth heavily has McGuire hasn’t gotten a hit off him in six tries so far. Their most recent clash came back in April in an AL East game between Boston and the Baltimore Orioles, where McGuire grounded out to first base.

They have faced off six different times, and McGuire is still searching for that first hit against Voth.

There is another chance for these two to face off for a seventh time in July when the Mariners travel to Boston as part of a six game road trip.

Austin Voth at spring training. (Ben VanHouten / Seattle Mariners)