IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball alums continue to rise through the professional ranks following a successful 2019 season headed up by Keston Hiura who is bringing the Anteaters into the postseason once again.

Keston Hiura, 2B - Milwaukee Brewers: The 2017 draftee sped through the Milwaukee minor league system joining the Major League ranks in May nearly two years from his draft date. The outfielder as an Anteater has found a home at second base for the Brewers and in the middle of the batting order where he consistently hit cleanup. Hiura found his stride after the All-Star break with a torrid month of July where he was named National League Rookie of the Month with a .355 batting average fueled by the week of July 21st where he was the NL Rookie of the Week hitting over .500.

Hiura's Video Highlights

Hiura's rookie campaign lasted 84 games finishing with a .303 average clubbing 44 of his 95 hits for extra bases including 19 home runs and 49 RBIs, and he should get some consideration in the Rookie of the Year race, but not before he and the Brewers look to make a postseason run.

For the second straight season, Milwaukee has earned a spot in the MLB playoffs where they will compete in the one-game Wild Card Game Tuesday, October 1, in Washington D.C. to play the Nationals with first pitch at 5:08 p.m broadcasted on TBS. The winner will head to the National League Division Series against the league's top squad, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in a seven-game series that starts Thursday. Hiura joins Brady Anderson as Anteaters to participate in the MLB Postseason, Anderson as part of the Baltimore Orioles' runs in 1996 and 1997 reaching the League Championship Series in each appearance.

Brian Hernandez, 3B - Tigres de Quintana Roo: Hiura isn't the only 'Eater helping his team make a postseason run. Nine-year pro ball veteran Brian Hernandez had his Quintana Roo club back in the playoffs of the Mexican Baseball League. Los Tigres were bounced in the first round, but that didn't stop Hernandez from being named to the league's postseason team after leading all hitters with a .483 playoffs average that included a home run and five RBIs.

He hit .338 over the 117-game regular season blasting 11 home runs, driving in 49 runs, and landing among the league leaders in hits and doubles.

Chris Rabago, C - Colorado Rockies (AA / AAA): The Anteater catcher continues to rise in now his sixth professional season. He played 46 games in Double-A Hartford excelling on the defensive end, and got his shot a couple times with Triple-A Albuquerque including to close out the season impressing with 14 hits, two HRs, and seven RBIs in 14 games

Matt Whitehouse, LHP - Colorado Rockies (AA / AAA): The crafty lefty bounced around a little after running his course in the Cleveland Indians organization, the Rockies scooped him up and he was teammates with Rabago in Double-A Hartford for a large portion of the season. He threw a total of 80.2 IP in 2019 leveling out with a 5-5 record and striking out 90 hitters. Over half of his innings were with Hartford including all eight of his starts which included a few outings with Rabago receiving him like old times.

Royce Lewis, SS - Minnesota Twins (A+ / AA): The former No. 1 overall pick and Anteater NLI signee began the year as a spring training non-roster invite before starting the year in Advanced-A with Fort Myers. Lewis was part of the MLB Futures Game getting a hit in a couple at-bats, and soon after rose to Double-A Pensacola joined by a few other highly-touted Twins prospects.

He hit 12 home runs between Advanced-A and Double-A, and now is getting some play in the star-studded Arizona Fall League with the Salt River Rafters expanding his versatility to 3B and OF in addition to facing some top MLB prospect competition. Lewis remains the Twins' top organizational prospect and the No. 9 prospect in all of minor league baseball.

Royce Lewis in the Arizona Fall League

The rest of the Anteaters are battling it out in the Rookie and Single-A levels with some climbing quicker than others:

Brandon Lewis, 3B/1B - Los Angeles Dodgers (Rookie / A): Of the eight Anteaters selected in the draft this past summer, Brandon Lewis has made the biggest organizational strides hopping up quickly through Rookie levels up to Single-A with the Great Lakes Loons.

Lewis spent most of his time with the Ogden Raptors of the Advanced Rookie level where he crushed 12 home runs in 32 games pounding out 39 RBIs and a .369 average. He even slugged a three-HR game with the Raptors pushing them into the playoffs, and was named Pioneer League Player of the Week that week of August 11 on top of a Mid-Season All-Star honor.

Lewis joined Great Lakes for their playoff push helping them through the first round with a two-HR game before falling in the Midwest League semifinals.

Christian Koss, SS - Colorado Rockies (Rookie Advanced): The third member of the Rockies organization had a scorching start to his professional career. Koss was a Mid-Season All-Star starter and landed on the Postseason All-Star roster picking up a pair of Pioneer League Player of the Week honors building into Player of the Month recognition for the month of July where her hit .374 with seven of his home runs. He scalded the ball hitting .332 with 11 HRs, 51 RBIs, stole 10 bases, and scored nearly a run a game. He added a 6-RBI game and hit five HRs in a week to lead Rookie Advanced Grand Junction into playoffs before a semifinal exit by Lewis' Raptors

Andre Pallante, RHP - St. Louis Cardinals (Low-A Short Season): The first Anteater selected this summer settled in with the State College Spikes of the New York-Penn League. Pallante made 11 appearance, nine as a starter, but none lasting more than 4.2 IP so don't let the 1-0 record fool you. Pallante posted a 2.78 ERA striking out 38 hitters to 11 walks in 35.2 innings and earned a spot on the New York-Penn All-Star roster.

Cameron Bishop, LHP - Baltimore Orioles (Advanced A): A third-year vet to the pro ball circuit, Cameron Bishop continues his steady rise through the minors. He threw 113.2 IP for the Carolina League's Frederick Keys, and was snakebitten for a 2-9 record, but struck out a career high 109 hitters in 22 starts which included a couple of outings with eight Ks and a season-best outings in his second-to-last start allowing a run and a walk with seven strikeouts over eight innings to get the win.

Calvin Faucher, RHP - Minnesota Twins (Advanced A): Faucher spent the entire year with the Fort Myers Miracle of the Florida State League. A teammate of Royce's for half the season, Faucher battled with injuries throughout, but came back strong to put up 34 relief appearances in 2019 going 3-2 with two saves and striking out 61 hitters to 22 walks and just two home runs allowed in 55 innings

Jordan Bocko, RHP - Washington Nationals (Single-A Short Season): Bocko began his pro career dominant much like his start to the 2019 season firing scoreless ball through his first five outings. He finished his first season of Single-A Short Season ball with a 1-1 mark and 1.96 ERA over 12 relief outings striking out 11 over 23 innings.

Taylor Rashi, RHP - San Francisco Giants (Rookie / Single-A Short Season): Rashi made his presence known out of the gate as well starting in Rookie ball in the Arizona League in July, but pumping out shutout baseball four his first nine innings allowing just a handful of baserunners. After nine Rookie appearances, he got a chance with Single-A Salem Keizer of the Northwest League just as the playoffs approached and threw two scoreless frames with them as well to wrap up his first professional seson with a 1.15 ERA and 2-0 record striking out 22 hitters to six walks over 15.2 innings

Mikey Filia, OF - Kansas City Royals (Rookie Advanced): The stud outfielder spent his entire first season with the Burlington Royals of the Appalachian League knocking 29 hits in 33 games. The Royals made it all the way to the championship series losing the best-of-three in game three to Johnson City with Filia contributing three hits and three RBIs in those games.

Cole Kreuter, C/2B - St. Louis Cardinals (Rookie / Advanced A): The Anteater standout continued his pro career after a late selection in 2018 back with the Rookie squad. He jumped up to Palm Beach part of the Florida State League where he's been primarily used as a catcher. He even played a few series against his father, Chad, now head coach of the St. Lucie Mets in the FSL with the pair meeting at home plate to exchange lineup cards before one game. He's begun his career slowly with just 27 hits in his first 59 games, but does have a home run and 21 RBIs to show for it

Christian Bergman, RHP - Seattle Mariners / Chicago Cubs / Sugar Land Skeeters (Ind.): Bergy began the 2019 season in the Cubs' camp for spring training getting some play. He ended up back with the Mariners starting six games for Triple-A Tacoma before being released with a 2-3 record. Bergman joined with Sugar Land in the Atlantic Independent League starting five times before ending his time there. Bergman was in the Majors with the Mariners for short time in 2018 currently in possession of a 11-15 all-time MLB record with 130 strikeouts in 215.2 innings pitched spanning 71 appearances, 25 as a starter

Andrew Morales, RHP - St. Louis Cardinals: The former All-American was belaboured by injuries in the 2019 season. After getting a shot with the big club in spring training earlier this year, his opportunity was cut short due to an injury that kept him out the entire season. After being selected in 2014, he's risen up to Triple-A where he's been sincle 2017 amassing a grand minor league total of 125 appearances, 44 as a starter, with a record of 14-19, eight saves, and a 4.19 ERA behind 283 strikeouts in 322.1 innings