ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - With the Major League Baseball season kicking off March 28, the following are some of Elk Grove’s own who are featured on the active 40-man roster of their respective teams, as of March 31. 

Dylan Carlson (Cardinals): Carlson is fighting way back to the active roster as he had an injury-riddled 2023 season with a high ankle sprain which he sustained on Mother’s Day when running out of the batter’s box. Despite the pain, Carlson tried playing through it but ended up having ankle surgery in September. 

“The biggest issue I ran into was when I started to compensate for that foot, I started getting stress reactions, back issues from walking differently and then I ended up with the oblique strain,” Carlson said in an article for MLB. 

Carlson played 76 games in 2023 where he slashed .219/.318/.333. Currently placed on the 10-day injured list, Carlson looks to play a big role once healthy in a young outfield for the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Carlson played 18 games of spring training slashing .271/.340/.521 in 48 at-bats. He is the veteran player in the outfield with none of his teammates currently on the active 40-man roster exceeding his age of 25. 

J.D. Davis (Athletics): After a hectic offseason with the San Francisco Giants, winning his arbitration hearing and being placed on waivers after the signing of Matt Chapman, Davis found a home across the bay in the Oakland Athletics. 

Davis won his arbitration case against his former team for a salary of $6.9 million unguaranteed money, which meant he received $1.1 million in termination pay once he was released after not being claimed off waivers and the Giants unable to find a suitable trade. 

Davis spent one full season with the Giants after being traded from the Mets midway through the 2022 season. In his 2023 season, Davis slashed .248/.325/.413 where he was fully expecting to call home in 2024 until he was the odd man out once Chapman signed as a free agent. The Giants were looking to trade him, then suddenly placed him on waivers as he was instructed to stay home and not report to spring training. 

"So from there, it was definitely a gut punch," Davis told NBC Sports California. "I had a feeling that either a trade was going to happen or not, and heck, there probably was a chance I was going to clear waivers just for the sake of [there being] two weeks left in spring training, everybody's rosters are pretty much solidified, they've already had their first two, three cuts, their clubhouses are getting smaller." 

It was reported on March 15 that the Oakland Athletics had reached an agreement with Davis on a one-year $2.5 million contract with $1 million in incentives and this was thanks to the good word from former Giants teammates now on the A’s to their front office.

“Once they (Ross Stripling, Alex Wood and Scott Alexander) started texting me about, 'Hey, we want you over here, this is a good group of guys. Good, young core.' Davis started his A’s career on a positive note with a multi-homer game on March 29. 

Nick Madrigal (Cubs): In 2021, Madrigal had season-ending surgery to repair a torn hamstring while he was still on the White Sox. It has been six years since Madrigal was drafted fourth overall to the south side of Chicago and since then, he has continued to have hamstring issues leading him to not show the full potential of his college days at Oregon State where he was named Pac-12 Player of the Year and on the College World Series All-Tournament Team his sophomore season. 

Madrigal has shown flashes of his college self but hasn’t played more than 92 games in a season due to injuries even after being traded to the north side of Chicago to the Cubs. It was reported early in spring training that Madrigal had a mild strain as he only played eight games. Despite the strain, Madrigal made the Cubs opening-day roster and has played one game recording one hit through their first series of the season. 

Rowdy Tellez (Pirates): After five seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, Tellez found his power stroke in the 2022 season with the Milwaukee Brewers, where he was traded to midway through 2021, hitting 35 home runs. Before the Major League season in 2023, Tellez represented the Mexican National Team in the World Baseball Classic, which led to a .280/.333/.440 slash line with five runs batted in (RBI’s) in six games. He had an injury-riddled season with the Brewers, sustaining a fractured finger and forearm inflammation, and was left off the National League Wild Card Series roster. 

During the off-season, Tellez signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates on a one-year $3.2 million deal with $800,000 in incentives. In 105 games in 2023, Tellez slashed .215/.291/.376 in 351 at-bats. Through his first series with his new team, Tellez hit a three-run home run on March 31 for his first RBI of the season.