Jerry Wayne Hairston, Jr. (born May 29, 1976 in Des Moines, Iowa) is a Mexican-American professional baseball utility player currently playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In High School, he was a 2-time All-State selection at Naperville North High School in baseball and an all-area selection in basketball. He was drafted in the 42nd round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles but chose instead to go to college. Hairston played college ball at Southern Illinois University in 1996 and 1997, where he batted .360 for his career and was the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 1996. He was later inducted as a member of the Southern Illinois Baseball Hall of Fame.

Hairston was drafted in the 11th round of the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles. He made his professional debut in 1997 with the rookie-league Bluefield Orioles, where he hit .330 in 59 games. In 1998, he made a fast rise up the farm system, starting in A with the Frederick Keys, where he played in 80 games and hit .302, then he was promoted to the AA Bowie Baysox, where he hit .326 in 55 games and received a September promotion to the Major Leagues.

Matthew Ryan "Matt" Kemp (born September 23, 1984, in Midwest City, Oklahoma) is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kemp was drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round of the 2003 draft and made his major league debut in 2006. In 2011, Kemp led the National League in runs scored (115), total bases (353), OPS+ (171), WAR (10.0), home runs (39), and runs batted in (115). Additionally, he became the first player to finish in the top two in both home runs and steals since Hank Aaron in 1963.

Kemp attended Midwest City High School, where he was a standout in basketball and baseball. He was teammates with Shelden Williams on the varsity basketball team that won the state title their junior year.

Kemp, along with Williams and three other teammates, was accused of raping a 19-year-old woman at the time of a high school all-star basketball tournament on January 20, 2002, at the Columbus, Ohio Hyatt hotel. The players were suspended from the team during the investigation. The woman did not press charges, and the district attorney opted to not pursue the matter due to a lack of evidence.

Anthony Nomar Garciaparra ( /ˈnoʊmɑr ɡɑrˌsiːəˈpɑrə/; born July 23, 1973, in Whittier, California) is a former Major League Baseball player and current ESPN analyst. After playing parts of 9 seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played third base, first base, and designated hitter for the Oakland Athletics, first base and third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and shortstop and third base for the Chicago Cubs. He is one of 13 players in Major League history to hit two grand slams during a single game, and the only player to achieve the feat at his home stadium.

Garciaparra attended St. Mary's of the Assumption School in Whittier, California for elementary school; for high school he attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California, where he excelled in football, soccer, and baseball, and had a 3.9 GPA. His teams won high school league championships in 1990–91, and he won the league MVP honors in 1991, his last year of high school. St. John Bosco High School retired Garciaparra's baseball jersey. St. John Bosco High School's Activities Office window is home to an area dedicated to Garciaparra's baseball career both at the school and with the Dodgers.

Stephen James Strasburg ( /ˈstrɑːzbərɡ/; born July 20, 1988) is a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Nationals, who selected him with the first pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. Strasburg signed a record $15.1 million contract with the Nationals. He made his MLB debut with the Nationals in 2010.

Strasburg was called the "most-hyped pick in draft history" by ESPN and the "most hyped and closely watched pitching prospect in the history of baseball" by Sports Illustrated.

In 2008, as a sophomore at San Diego State University, Strasburg went 8–3 with a 1.58 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 98⅓ innings for the Aztecs. Four of his thirteen starts in 2008 were complete games, two of which were shutouts. On April 11 of that year, he struck out a Mountain West Conference record 23 batters in a game versus the University of Utah.

Strasburg finished the 2009 season 13–1 with a 1.32 ERA, 59 hits allowed, 16 earned runs, 19 walks, and 195 strikeouts in 109 innings pitched. In his final home start on May 8, 2009, Strasburg threw his first career no-hitter while striking out 17 Air Force batters. His lone loss came against the Virginia Cavaliers in the NCAA Regionals as Virginia advanced toward the College World Series, but he still struck out 15 in seven innings during the loss.

Donald Zackary "Zack" Greinke (pronounced /ˈɡrɪŋki/ GRING-kee; born October 21, 1983) is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers. Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009 with the Kansas City Royals.

Greinke was born in Orlando, Florida, the son of Marsha Ann (née Wilkin) and Donald Ray Greinke. After being named the Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2002, he was selected out of Apopka High School in the first round of the 2002 draft. Greinke turned down a scholarship to Clemson to sign with the Royals.

In 2003, he played for the Wilmington Blue Rocks and Wichita Wranglers, where he was named the Royals Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Carolina League Pitcher of the Year, and The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year, with a 15–4 record and 1.93 ERA.

Greinke made his major league debut on May 22, 2004 against the Oakland Athletics. Greinke's first major league hit was a home run off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Russ Ortiz in a 12–11 loss on June 10, 2005.