Former Maryland outfielder LaMonte Wade called up by Minnesota Twins

Maryland baseball is having some good luck in recent months. Just a few weeks after former Terp Mike Shawaryn got his first MLB call-up by the Boston Red Sox, his college teammate, LaMonte Wade, joined the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.

The Twins currently sit in first place in the AL Central, but they’ve had a few injuries in recent weeks. Wade fills the spot previously occupied by Willians Astudillo, who went on the IL with an oblique injury. Potential All-Star outfielder Eddie Rosario also sprained his ankle Wednesday night, making Wade the last healthy outfielder on the 40-man roster.

Wade has hit .248/.393/.366 in 70 games at Triple-A Rochester this season, and he’s hitting .286/.418/.442 in the month of June. He also is a very patient hitter at the plate and has seen the ball well his entire career. Wade currently owns one of the best walk rates in the minor leagues, walking 16.88 percent of his plate appearances this season with 51 walks and 43 strikeouts at Rochester.

Wade is the latest Terp to make the bigs and is now one of five Terps in the big leagues and one of four on an active roster. He’s also the fourth Maryland player to get called up since 2017, joining Brandon Lowe and Adam Kolarek of the Tampa Bay Rays and Shawaryn. Lowe, Shawaryn and Wade were all teammates on the 2014 and 2015 NCAA Super Regional teams. Two other members of the 2015 squad, Brian Shaffer and Kevin Smith, are in Double-A with the Rays and Blue Jays, respectively.

Wade will start Thursday’s game on the Minnesota bench, but could see time against Lowe and Kolarek’s Rays.