Three Rafter Bats Selected for 2024 Northwoods League All-Star Game in Mankato

Three Rafter Bats Selected for 2024 Northwoods League All-Star Game in Mankato

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. – The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters will send three players to the 2024 Northwoods League All-Star Game in Mankato, with final voting results announced Friday morning. Max McGwire, Jack Mathey and Jorge De Goti will represent the Rafters in Minnesota in the summer game on July 23.

McGwire has been a dominant force in the Rafter order since arriving in Rapids. McGwire’s slash line through his first 32 games is .325/.433/.538. McGwire’s .971 OPS is 14th in the Northwoods League.

The Irvine, CA native has five home runs this season, three of which are grand slams. McGwire’s 35 RBIs rank 10th among all hitters in the league.

McGwire made his rare Rafter debut on May 29 against the Waterloo Bucks. In his first official at-bat in the Northwoods League, McGwire hit a grand slam over the left-field wall at Historic Witter Field. It was part of a five-run inning for the Rafters in their first home win of the season.

The redshirt sophomore spent this past spring at the University of San Diego and has had plenty of reps at first base and the plate this summer. McGwire was at the University of Oklahoma in his first two seasons of NCAA play.

Mathey is a native of Copley, OH, and is a rising senior. The catcher spent the last three seasons at Division II Ohio Dominican University in the GMAC conference. Mathey turned heads in his junior season with the Panthers. Mathey started 34 games and appeared in 35 last spring. He batted .385 in college ball and finished the season with an OPS over 1.000.

Mathey was the Rafters Opening Day catcher at Herr-Baker Field in Fond du Lac on Memorial Day. He hasn’t looked back since arriving in Rapids, and his numbers in the batter’s box show it. Mathey is one spot ahead of teammate McGwire in OPS league-wide with a .981 mark through 30 games. The slugger has a slash line of .317/.466/.515 and has thrived at Witter Field, where he’s hit all six of his home runs of the Wisconsin Rapids campaign.

Mathey’s two home runs against Green Bay on July 5 were a huge catalyst in the team’s three-game winning streak early in the second half. The veteran clubhouse player is committed to Kent State in the fall and will get his first taste of Division I baseball next spring.

De Goti is the only Rafter hitter returning to last year’s team. The Miami native led the 2023 Rafters in batting average, as he hit .328 in 39 games. In his second round in the Rapids, De Goti is producing similar results. The Nova Southeastern product is hitting .325/.429/.377 in 32 games with the club thus far.

De Goti tied his home run total from a summer ago at one, with his lone long ball coming against La Crosse at Copeland Park on June 10. The outfielder had the team’s longest first-half hitting streak of the season, stretching to 10 games. Before Friday night’s game against the Lakeshore Chinooks, De Goti has a knock in his last six games.

Prior to joining Nova Southeastern, De Goti played for the Indiana Hoosiers in 2023 and the Florida Gators.

The 2024 Northwoods League All-Star Game will be at ISG Field in Mankato, MN, home of the Moondogs. The game is scheduled for Tuesday, July 23 at 7:00 p.m.

The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are members of the premier developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Now in its 30th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 26 teams, attracting significantly more fans, in a friendly baseball experience, than any other league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office personnel, more than 245 Northwoods League players have gone on to play in Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG), and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). Alongside 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Star Jordan Zimmermann (DET). All regular season games can be watched live via the Northwoods League website. All regular season games can be watched live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App from the Apple App Store or Google Play and set the Rafters as your favorite team