CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — USA Baseball announced that 2023 Elizabethton River Riders pitcher Pablo Torres was named to their Collegiate National Team’s 58-player Training Camp roster. He is the first active player since the Appalachian League transitioned to a 10-team collegiate summer league in 2021 to be identified and selected by USA Baseball to the Collegiate National Team Training Camp roster.
Additionally, three former Appalachian League players earned a spot on the Collegiate National Team’s Training Camp roster: outfielder Rodney Green Jr. (2022 Pulaski River Turtles), infielder Kaelen Culpepper (‘22 Bluefield Ridge Runners) and pitcher Xavier Meachem (‘21 Burlington Sock Puppets). They are the first Appalachian League alumni chosen for the initial 58-player roster.
Torres, 18, is the Appalachian League’s first active player to earn a spot on the Collegiate National Team’s Training Camp roster. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA across three relief appearances totaling 5.1 innings for Elizabethton this season. He’s struck out 10 of the 24 batters he faced, allowing five hits and three walks.
Torres was 2-2 in 15 appearances, including four starts, as a Bethune-Cookman University freshman this past spring. In 40 innings, the Orlando, Fla., native compiled 52 strikeouts while limiting opposing hitters to 40 hits. He established a pair of season-high totals with his six strikeouts in 5.2 innings in a win over Mississippi Valley on April 15.
Green Jr., 20, produced a .295/.401/.513 batting line with six home runs, 12 doubles and 30 RBI in 38 games for Pulaski during the 2022 Appalachian League season. He also scored 43 runs and was 22-for-22 in stolen base attempts. The Richmond, Calif., product garnered All-Pac-12 First Team honors this year as a University of California-Berkley sophomore after posting career highs in hits (49), doubles (9), home runs (14), RBI (37) and stolen bases (28). He batted .291/.388/.588 and was one of three Golden Bears to play and start in all 52 games.
Culpepper, 20, is a two-time All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and coming off a sophomore campaign with Kansas State in which he batted .325 with 10 home runs, 41 RBI and a team-leading .576 slugging percentage. Overall, Culpepper has compiled a career slash line of .303/.389/.498 in 91 games in two seasons with the Wildcats. The Memphis, Tenn., product batted .299 with a .457 on-base percentage in 29 games with Bluefield in 2022.
Meachem, 20, was 2-1 with five saves in 16 appearances, including seven starts as a North Carolina A&T State University sophomore this year. He posted 47 strikeouts while holding opposing hitters to a .240 average in 48.1 innings. Meachem made one start for the Sock Puppets’ inaugural 2021 Appy League team, tossing four innings in a no-decision. He recently participated in the MLB Draft Combine at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz.
The Collegiate National Team Training Camp begins play on June 23, followed by the annual Stars vs. Stripes four-game series on June 25-28 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. The series is a product of the Collegiate National Team Training Camp that features 58 of the premier non-draft-eligible collegiate players in the country. The Collegiate National Team will select a final 26-man roster to compete in a pair of five-game series against Chinese Taipei and Japan from June 30-July 12.
The Appalachian League is a part of USA Baseball and powered by MLB. For more information on the Appalachian League, please visit appyleague.com or follow the league on Twitter and Instagram (@AppyLeague).
