Big day for local pros

Tuivailala, a right-handed pitcher, made his major league debut with the Cardinals in 2014, appearing in two games. He made 14 appearances last season and has found his way into eight games this season.

Renda, a utility player, was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 42nd round following his senior year at Serra, but instead enrolled and played at Cal. He was again drafted by the Washington Nationals in the second round in 2012. Last summer, he was traded to the New York Yankees, who shipped him to Cincinnati in the offseason. Renda made his debut early last month and in 27 at-bats he has six hits and scored four runs.

Goeddel, a pitcher who grew up in Hillsborough, attended UCLA before being drafted by the Mets in 24th round in 2010 and made his first appearance with New York in 2014. In parts of three seasons with the Mets, Goeddel has made 70 appearances, including a career-high 35 in 2016.

Nava, an outfielder, is the most experienced of the group, breaking in with the Boston Red Sox in 2010. Nava’s story truly is Cinderella-like: cut from the Santa Clara University team, he enrolled at CSM and had a stellar-two year career. He bounced around the independent leagues before finally getting a chance, signing a free-agent deal with the Boston organization in 2008. He spent five seasons with the Red Sox and since has been with Toronto, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles Angels and now the Royals. He has a career .263 batting average with 25 home runs and 185 RBIs.

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Another local product, Matt Chavez (2007 Burlingame), continues his quest to catch on with a Major League franchise and simply continues to put up numbers wherever he goes.

This season, he was named Rookie of the Year for the Wichita Wingnuts of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. Chavez led the league with a .359 batting average, and finished with 21 doubles, 16 home runs and 61 RBIs. He was the league’s Player of the Week ending July 24 and was the Player of the Month in August.

This year’s accomplishments come on the heels of winning the Pacific Association’s Triple Crown and Player of the Year honors in 2015 while playing with the San Rafael Pacifics.

His award-winning season in 2015 earned him a shot with the San Diego Padres organization and, in 15 game with Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore, Chavez hit .293 with four doubles, three homers and eight RBIs. But it wasn’t enough to bring him back for 2016.

In 2013, Chavez won the Triple Crown of the Freedom Pro Baseball League while playing with the Prescott-Arizona Montezuma Federals.

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Now that a new school year in underway, all varsity coaches are encouraged to email their results to the Daily Journal sports department: sports@smdailyjournal.com.

With a small staff, we rely on coaches or team statisticians to report scores to help us keep track on the hundreds of athletes participating in the various sports throughout the school season.

Football coaches: you, especially, are asked to report at least final scores. We do a good job of tracking results on social media, but some scores have slipped through the cracks. All we need is a final score. If you have time to include some highlights, even better, but not required.

The Daily Journal is the only newspaper on the Peninsula to offer day-after football results and the only one that will have all the Friday night football scores in the paper the next day. But we need everyone to pitch in.

C’mon. It’s a quick, 30-second task.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. You can follow him on Twitter @CheckkThissOutt.