NATCHITOCHES – The offseason will have to wait for a pair of former Northwestern State right-handed pitchers.
 
Johnathan Harmon and Alex Makarewich will take part in the Arizona Fall League, a proving ground for Major League Baseball's top prospects.
 
Harmon, who finished his season at high-A Dayton in the Cincinnati Reds organization, appeared in eight games with seven starts, going 1-0 and pitching to a 3.45 ERA in his fourth minor league season. A 2022 All-Southland Conference pitcher, Harmon was a 19^th-round selection of the Reds in the 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
 
Makarewich made 41 relief appearances across two levels (Class A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes) in the Los Angeles Dodgers' organization. A 2023 13^th-round pick of the Dodgers who earned All-Southland honors that season, Markarewich posted a 5-3 record and two saves with 75 strikeouts in 44 innings pitched.
 
Harmon and Makarewich were two-year teammates who were part of a school-record run of a six-year stretch of MLB draftees. The right-handers played together in 2021 and 2022 at Northwestern.
 
The pair of former Demons are the first Northwestern baseball alumni since David Fry (Peoria, 2022) to participate in the Arizona Fall League, which begins play Oct. 6 with six teams based in the Phoenix area.
 
Harmon will pitch for the Peoria Javelinas, which are composed of prospects from the Cincinnati, Baltimore, Minnesota, San Diego and Seattle organizations. Makarewich will be part of the Glendale Desert Dogs, whose roster comprises prospects from the Dodgers, Atlanta, St. Louis, Chicago White Sox and Toronto organizations.
 
The Arizona Fall League is in its 33rd season of competition with each MLB franchise sending seven players to the league to compete in its 30-game schedule, which also includes the league's annual Fall Stars Game (Nov. 9) and postseason that begins Nov. 13.