Three Former Tulane Players Make Opening Day Rosters for Astros, Tigers and Reds
The Tulane Green Wave have not necessarily been an MLB factory in recent years, but they do have a handful of players still contributing at the Major League level.
They had four players selected in the 2024 MLB draft. While they will have to wait to make their debuts since they're still climbing up the minor league ranks, there are a handful of veterans who made Opening Day rosters.
Two players will be active Day and another could have made it, but he still has not recovered from a shoulder injury.
All three were celebrated by the Green Wave social media:
Jake Rogers - Detroit Tigers
Rogers spent three seasons at Tulane back from 2015-2016. He had a career slash line of .233/.333/.309 with seven home runs, he was good enough on defense to get drafted by the Houston Astros in the third round.
He was later traded to the Detroit Tigers as a part of the historic Justin Verlander trade, which is where Rogers still is to this day.
The 29-year-old bounced around from Majors and the minors for a few years, but has settled as the Tigers' backup catcher.
Ian Gibaut - Cincinnati Reds
Gibaut was a dominant college pitcher with the Green Wave back in 2013-2015. He had a career 2.72 ERA over 99.1 innings of relief work.
He has bounced around to a few clubs, but has been with the Cincinnati Reds since he was claimed off waivers by them back in 2022.
The 31-year-old still had to fight for his roster spot on a minor league contract this spring, but did enough to win a job.
He had a 4.09 ERA this spring with 12 strikeouts in 11 innings. He only pitched two innings of MLB ball last season, so hopefully he will be able to make a larger impact this year.
J.P. France - Houston Astros
France is an interesting case since he is still on the injured list after missing almost all of 2024 with a shoulder injury.
Had he been healthy, he would have been squarely in the competition for either the last starting spot or a long relief role.
The almost 30-year-old shined as a rookie with a 3.83 ERA over 136.1 innings with an ERA+ of 111.
His second campaign did not go nearly as smoothly with a 7.46 ERA over the five starts he was able to make. His ERA+ was all the way down at 54.
France will have the chance to still play his way to the Majors when he is finally healthy again.
