When baseball players are young kids, they dream about playing in the Major Leagues, hitting a walk off home run, and being one of the best players in the game. It does not happen quickly and it is not an easy process to achieve those life goals that young baseball players have. Making it to the big leagues is one thing, but then making it into the All Star game is a whole new level. This is where former Newport Gulls catcher Will Smith and pitcher Kris Bubic are at in their careers right now. They both made it through all of the levels, going through ups and downs, to get to the very moment in their careers, an MLB All Star. 

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith is one of the best in the game as of right now. Smith will be appearing in his third straight All Star game this summer down in Atlanta, Georgia. More than just appearing in the game, Smith will be the starting catcher for the National League, and this comes after a monster first half of the season. Smith is having a career season with the Dodgers, who are coming off of a World Series championship last Fall. With over 65 games played this season thus far, Smith is batting .320/.418/.532 with 10 home runs, 43 RBI, 15 doubles, and 39 walks drawn. Smith is one of the best hitters on this 2025 Dodgers team and is right behind his teammate Shohei Ohtani, which is a pretty good comparison. 

Before getting to the big leagues and becoming an All Star catcher for three consecutive years, Will Smith was born in Louisville, Kentucky and then eventually went to the University of Louisville for college. While playing the springs in Louisville, he spent a part of one summer up here in Newport, Rhode Island in 2014 for the Gulls as he had 7 hits in 15 games. In his last year of college baseball in 2016 with Louisville, Smith showed up for the Cardinals and slashed .382/.480/.567 which led the entire team and also had 7 home runs with 43 RBI. 

Smith has always been a power hitter in his days of playing baseball and is a career .265 hitter with his 9 year career with the Dodgers. Smith gets on base and he is a huge part in the success of the team, which led him to two World Series rings in the last 5 years.   

With all of the success that catcher Will Smith has had in college, here at Cardines for the Gulls, and with the Dodgers for 9 years proves why he was a first overall pick in 2016 and why he has had 3 consecutive All Star bids and why he is the starting catcher for the NL All Stars for the midsummer classic this year. 

The next former Newport Gull that was named an MLB All Star this year is Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic. 

Bubic, the hard throwing left hander was drafted out of Stanford in the 1st round 2018 MLB June Amateur draft. It has been a career full of ups and downs and Bubic has had some off years but he found his groove in 2025 throwing a 2.36 era with a 7-6 record. This year has been by far his best year so far which explains why he was selected to be an All Star for the American League team down in Atlanta next week. This is his first All-Star game selection and yes, he is only 7-6, but his other stats say otherwise of why Bubic was selected. A 2.36 era in 103 innings with only 32 walks and 107 strikeouts is good enough to make the AL team. 

Kris Bubic has been on the Royals big league team all his career, getting the call up in 2020 and every year he has gotten a little bit better up to this year where he is at his best. 

Bubic played for the Newport Gulls in 2016 and just 2 years later was drafted by the Royals. He quickly made it through the Royals minor league system and made his MLB debut on July 31, 2020. Bubic is in the middle of his career and has much more left in the tank and will be one of the top name pitchers in the league in the next few years. 

This shows that dreams really come true no matter what is in front of players. These two players, both Smith and Bubic, went through the ups and downs in their baseball careers going through Newport to get to the top of the MLB, which is the All-Star game. 

Make sure to catch both of these Gulls in the Pros, catcher Will Smith from the Los Angeles Dodgers, and left handed pitcher Kris Bubic from the Kansas City Royals next Tuesday, July 15th down in Atlanta, Georgia at this year's MLB All-Star game.