Former Eastern Illinois baseball players Hayden Birdsong and Trey Sweeney have made MLB Opening Day rosters for the 2025 season.

Hayden Birdsong, who will be coming out of the bullpen for the Giants, made 16 starts for San Franciso last season, recording a 5-6 record with a 4.75 ERA and 88 strikeouts.

This spring, the right-hander from Mattoon posted a 2-0 record with 0.75 ERA and 19 strikeouts through 18.0 innings pitched, while also adding a save.

At Eastern, Birdsong was named First-Team All-OVC in 2022 after recording a 5-4 record with a 3.35 ERA and 66 strikeouts while holding opponents to a team-low .216 batting average.

A former 20th overall draft pick by the Yankees, Trey Sweeney is in the mix for the Tigers' starting shortstop position. 

After being traded to Detroit from Los Angeles last season, Sweeney made 36 appearances for the Tigers, batting .218 with four home runs and 17 RBIs.

At EIU, Sweeney was named OVC Player of the Year and a First-Team All-American in 2021 after batting .382 with 14 home runs and 58 RBIs.

In addition, Will Klein has been named to the Mariners 40-man roster.

Klein made four appearances for the Royals after making his MLB debut with Kansas City last season before being traded to the A's, who he made three appearances for last August. He recorded a 1-0 record with seven strikeouts through 7.1 innings pitched in 2024.

He was moved to Seattle this offseason and recorded a 3.60 ERA with eight strikeouts in five appearances during spring training.

In three seasons at EIU, Klein recorded an ERA of 4.91 with 95 strikeouts and a .233 batting average against before being selected in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft.

The MLB season gets underway on Thursday, with the Giants taking on the Reds at 3:10 p.m. while the Tigers open up with the defending World Series Champion Dodgers at 6:10 p.m.