Local Chatter: Answering the question — who will be Ventura County's next big leaguer?

For the second straight year, Ventura County opened the baseball season with three locals in the major leagues: Milwaukee outfielder Christian Yelich (Westlake High), St. Louis pitcher JoJo Romero (Oxnard High) and Miami pitcher Andrew Nardi (Royal High/Ventura College/Moorpark College).

Additionally, four other players seem likely to return to the big leagues this season.

Traded by the Dodgers in the Tyler Glasnow deal, Tampa Bay outfielder Jonny Deluca is opening the season with his new team on the 10-day injured list after suffering a broken hand. The former Agoura High standout was hit by a pitch in a spring training game in the Dominican Republic.

Pitcher Darius Vines, who made a memorable major league debut with Atlanta last summer, is starting the season with the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers.

The former St. Bonaventure High multisport star has already made two starts this season, striking out seven over seven innings Thursday against Louisville. He is the Triple-A level's early strikeout leader.

Pitcher Easton Lucas, who made his major league debut with Oakland in September after being acquired in a trade with Baltimore for Shintaro Fujinami, is opening the season with the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators.

More: Who has been Ventura County's No. 1 baseball player? Make your pick.

The Grace Brethren High graduate struck out three in 1.2 innings Thursday against Sugar Land.

Former Brewers, Dodgers and Mets reliever Phil Bickford, The Star’s 2013 Baseball Player of the Year as an Oaks Christian senior, will open the season with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, after signing with the New York Yankees last month.

Taking a glance around the minor leagues, let’s see which locals could join those seven major leaguers this season.

The most likely local to make his major league debut this summer is Houston infielder Shay Whitcomb.

The Newbury Park High graduate, who was the last pick of the COVID-shortened 2020 MLB Draft, led the minor leagues with 35 home runs last year — slugging 23 in 87 games with the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys after hitting 12 in 46 games with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks.

Whitcomb is off to a hot start in 2024. He blasted a grand slam, his 78th career minor league home run, last Sunday against the Round Rock Express.

After earning a non-roster invite to spring training, pitcher Chris Clarke made five spring training appearances for the Chicago Cubs last month.

The Newbury Park High graduate threw three shutout innings, striking out three, in his season debut for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs on March 30.

After five seasons in the Cleveland organization, pitcher Thomas Ponticelli is now with Colorado. The Newbury Park High graduate will open the season with the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes and could provide pitching depth for the Rockies this summer.

Nick Kahle already has some experience at the Triple-A level. The Simi Valley native already played eight games with the Nashville Sounds, his 2024 assignment, in 2022. The Brewers catcher hit seven home runs in 49 games at the Double-A level in 2022 and 2023.

Max Muncy is making his way through the minor leagues. The Athletics’ first-round draft pick in 2021 made his Triple-A debut last week with the Las Vegas Aviators, going 5 for 14 (.357) in his first four games.

The Star’s 2021 Baseball Player of the Year at Thousand Oaks High, Muncy hit .302 with four homers in 51 games at Double-A Midland last year. He then starred in the Arizona Fall League, where he was named to the Fall Stars game after hitting four home runs and stealing eight bases in 22 games with the Mesa Solar Sox.

Mets outfielder Rhylan Thomas has only played one full minor league season. But the Ventura native and Oaks Christian graduate has already earned a promotion to the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

An 11th-round draft pick of the Mets in 2022, Thomas hit .328 across three levels last season.

Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson has needed even less service time to earn his Double-A promotion.

The Thousand Oaks High graduate will open the season with the Double-A Midland RockHounds. The No. 6 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft hit .318 in 23 games at High-A Lansing in 2023.

Twins pitcher Pierson Ohl has returned to the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge to begin the season. The Grace Brethren graduate was 7-3 with a 2.69 in 16 games there in 2023.

Reds pitcher Carson Rudd has been assigned to the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. The Oaks Christian graduate was 5-8 with a 4.64 ERA in 21 games with the High-A Dayton Dragons in 2023.

White Sox second baseman Shawn Goosenberg has been assigned to the High-A Winston-Salem Dash. The Calabasas High graduate hit. 260 with 11 HRs in 124 games with the Dash in 2022 and 2023.

Blue Jays pitcher Johnathan Lavallee has been assigned to the High-A Vancouver Canadians. The righty from Royal High threw 66 innings for the Class-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels in 2022 and 2023.

Yankees outfielder Roc Riggio, another member of Thousand Oaks’ 2021 CIF-Southern Section Division 2 championship team, has been assigned to the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades. Riggio played 17 games with the Single-A Tampa Tarpons after being drafted out of Oklahoma State last summer.

Tigers shortstop John Peck will open the season with the Single-A Lakeland Flying Tigers. After being drafted in the seventh round, the former Moorpark High and Pepperdine University star hit .280 in eight games there last year.

Pitcher Vince Reilly (Thousand Oaks High) signed with the Cubs last month and been assigned to the club’s Arizona Complex League team.

The Guardians’ Justin Campbell (Simi Valley), the Yankees’ Nick Paciorek (Oaks Christian) and the Athletics’ Cole Miller (Newbury Park) — all pitchers — will open the season on the 60-day minor league injured list.

Campbell is still fighting to get healthy for the first time since being drafted the 37th overall in the 2022 draft. The former Oklahoma State two-way star underwent Tommy John surgery last month in Los Angeles, according to Guardians Prospective.

Joe Curley writes the Local Chatter column for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsjoecurley on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Local Chatter: Who will be Ventura County's next big leaguer?