Big moves by Tiger lefty who has two MLB-related events ahead
Jul. 5—It's been a summer of heat on the baseball burner for Fort Gibson senior Weston Rouse.
Recently the left-handed pitcher and two-time All-Phoenix Most Valuable Player was invited to a tryout out for the Chicago White Sox Area Code team, part of the Area Code Baseball organization. To be part of it you have to be invited by a pro scout. Rouse went to Lawrence, Kan., two weeks ago for the tryout and on Sunday got a call saying he'd made the team.
He'll go play games against the other "area code" teams August 6-11 at the University of San Diego. Scouts from all 30 MLB teams and top NCAA coaches will be in attendance. Rouse has already made a verbal commitment to play baseball at Oklahoma State, having done that last spring. Verbal commitments are non-binding.
There are Area Code teams representing eight regions labeled by MLB teams — Chicago White Sox has a 15-state area including Oklahoma and Arkansas up to the Great Lakes. New York Yankees have the Northeastern corridor, Washington Nationals the Southeast as far north as Virginia, Cincinnati the southern Rocky Mountain region and Southwest, Texas Rangers the Lone Star State, Kansas City Royals the Northwest and Alaska, Milwaukee Brewers southern California and Hawaii and the Oakland A's have northern California.
Just prior to that, however, he'll be part of the Midwest Scouts Association Select 50 Showcase to be held in Kansas City, Mo. It's a workout for 50 top MLB draft prospects still in high school. He was invited to this by the Philadelphia Phillies' organization.
Rouse was 7-0 last season with a 0.46 ERA in 2022 with 98 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings with just 16 walks and hit .350 at the plate with 12 doubles and a home run. As a junior he was 9-1 with a 0.91 ERA and 88 strikeouts. He hit .371 with half the extra-base hits he had as a senior.
