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Ben Ross, a 2019 Springfield Shawnee High School graduate, earned a promotion to the big leagues for the first time on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Major League Baseball rosters expand to 28 players as September began. Ross, a fifth-round pick in 2022, will move from the Triple-A St. Paul Saints to the Minnesota Twins, who play the Detroit Tigers at 7:40 p.m. Tuesday in Minneapolis. The 6-foot, 180-pound Ross will be the first Shawnee graduate to play in a Major League Baseball game when he debuts. Ross, 25, hit .249 with 15 home runs and 55 RBIs in 102 games with St. Paul. He has spent time at third base, shortstop and center field. Ross started the season with the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge, hitting .424 with five home runs and 16 RBIs in 16 games. Ross also spent the 2024 and 2025 seasons in Wichita. He hit .212 with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs in 2024 and .219 with 14 home runs and 60 RBIs in 2025. Ross is the 13th-ranked prospect in the Twins organization, according to MLB.com. The MLB.com scouting report on Ross reads, “While Ross very much has a utility role profile, it comes with legitimate tools on both sides. He’s reined in the swing-and-miss that plagued him a bit early in his pro career, draws a ton of walks and has been consistently hitting the ball hard. He can drive it to all fields for extra bases and has been tapping into his home run pop to his pull side more routinely. He really punishes fastballs, though he does have more trouble with soft stuff. “Ross’ defense at a number of positions has always been an asset. The above-average runner plays a solid shortstop, with enough arm for the premium position. But he seamlessly moves around the dirt, seeing time at third and second as well this season, while also having turned himself into a quality defender in center and left field.” Ross played college baseball at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio. In 2022, his third season at Notre Dame, he hit .393 with 14 home runs and 60 RBIs. He was named the Mountain East Conference Player of the Year and became the first player in school history to be named an NCAA Division II All-American. “It was pretty cool to be part of that program,” Ross told The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2023. “I grew there, being smaller my whole life. I think I graduated high school at 5-foot-5 maybe, about 100 pounds. So it was a nice little growing area there for me. I got comfortable in college ball, really got to be part of a good team there, so it was a lot of fun. It was a good experience, for sure.” Ross hit .466 with four triples and 21 RBIs in 24 games as a senior at Shawnee in 2019. The last graduate of a Clark County high school to reach the big leagues was 2012 Tecumseh graduate JT Brubaker, who debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020. Brubaker is now in his second season with the San Francisco Giants and has a 3.58 ERA in 41 appearances. Brubaker was the first Clark County native to reach the big leagues since Kenton Ridge graduate Adam Eaton, who debuted with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012.