Ex-Utica Brewer Stings Yankees with 2 Home Runs

New York Yankee fans in the Utica-area may have not realized that the player who helped sink the pinstripes with a pair of home runs on Monday night once played for the Utica Brewers.

Cedric Mullins was 3-4 in Monday's contest in the Bronx, the opener of a three-game series against the AL East rival Yankees. He had two dingers, a double and two RBIs propelling the Baltimore Orioles to 4-2 victory.

Mullins, originally from Greensboro, NC, played for the Utica Brewers back in 2014, shortly after the Brewers changed from the New York Collegiate Baseball League to join the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. The team is still with the PGCBL today, but have played as the Utica Blue Sox in the league for several years now.

The PGCBL is development league for college players looking to keep playing and expand their skills in the NCAA off-season.

Just one year after his summer in Utica, Mullins would go on to he drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 13th round of the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft. The now-26-year-old was up and down between the minor leagues and the Orioles for the last three seasons, appearing in a total of 100 games with Baltimore since 2018.

So far in 2021, Mullins has found a home as the O's starting center fielder, appearing in all of their 22 games this season while impressing at the plate with a .365 batting average and .996 OPS.

Another name Yankees fans might recognized who also has a history of collegiate ball in Utica comes from another AL East team. Ryan Yarbrough has appeared as both a starter and reliever over the past four seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays. Over that time he's tallied a 29-18 record with a 3.97 ERA.

Yarbrough, 29, is a slide-arming lefty who won a championship with the Utica Brewers in 2011, the team's inaugural season with the New York Collegiate Baseball League.