Jewish Baseball News

By Scott Barancik, Editor

Here are your minor-league highlights from the week of August 29 – September 4, 2016.

New additions

Jewish Baseball News welcomes three more players to its list of professional ballplayers. All three will play for Team Israel later this month in the World Baseball Classic qualifiers in Brooklyn.

• P Tyler Herron (Mets/AAA) is a 30-year-old right-hander out of Florida. Herron was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals out of high school in the 1st round of the 2005 amateur draft. The Mets are his fourth MLB franchise.
• CF Braden Bishop (Mariners/High-A) is a 23-year-old California native who attended the University of Washington. Seattle drafted him in the 3rd round in 2015.
• P Troy Neiman (Rockies/High-A) is a 25-year-old right-hander out of California. Colorado signed the Cal-State Chico alum as an undrafted free agent in 2013.

Another player on the roster for Team Israel, CF Ty Kelly, was called-up by the Mets on September 1 and therefore is unlikely to be available for the WBC qualifiers. Although his mother was raised Jewish, Kelly does not identify as Jewish, so Jewish Baseball News does not track his statistics.

Jewish Baseball News Hitter of the Week

RF Rhett Wiseman (Nationals/A) hit .346 with 3 HRs, a double, 7 RBIs, and 2 stolen bases. He’s hitting .249 with 13 HRs, 25 doubles, 5 triples, 73 RBIs, and 18 stolen bases.

Jewish Baseball News Pitcher of the Week

P Rob Kaminsky (Indians/AA) earned 2 wins last week, pitching 7.1 innings of one-run ball on August 29, and 7 innings of 3-run ball on September 3. A 1st-round pick of the Cardinals in the 2013 draft, Kaminsky is 11-7 this season with a 3.28 ERA. He went 5-0 in August with a 1.78 ERA.

Other highlights

3B Scotty Burcham (Rockies/A) had a strong week, hitting .545 with a double, triple, 3 RBIs, 2 walks, and 2 stolen bases. The 2015 draftee had three multi-hit games, including one with 4 hits and another with 3.

1B Nate Freiman (Red Sox/AA) hit .273 with a home run, double, 5 RBIs, and 3 walks.

LF Zach Borenstein (Diamondbacks/AAA) hit .294 with 2 home runs and a double.

C Michael Barash (Angels/A), a 2016 draftee, went 4-for-10 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs.

3B Mitchell Kranson (Twins/rookie), a 2016 draftee, went 3-for-5 on September 4 with 2 singles, a double, and 4 RBIs.

LF Mike Meyers (Red Sox/High-A) hit .333 with 2 doubles, a walk, 3 RBIs, and a stolen base.

C Garrett Stubbs (Astros/AA) hit .385 with 2 doubles, a walk, on RBI, and a stolen base.

In the first Triple-A start of his 8-year minor-league career, P Tyler Herron (Mets/AAA) earned a win September 1, giving up 2 earned runs on 3 hits and 3 walks over 6.2 innings while striking out 7.

P Corey Baker (Cardinals/AA) bounced back from a tough outing on August 30 to earn a win on September 4, pitching 5 shutout innings on 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 2. Baker also went 1-for-2 at the plate.

P Dean Kremer (Dodgers/A), a 2016 draftee, held opponents scoreless in two separate 3-inning relief appearances, yielding a total of 2 hits and no walks while striking out 9. Since being promoted to Single-A, Kremer is 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA, yielding just 4 hits over 15.1 innings while striking out 22.

P Joey Wagman (Athletics/High-A) was near perfect in two relief appearances, yielding no hits and one walk across a combined 5 innings while striking out 8.

P Gabe Cramer threw 3 shutout innings over two appearances, yielding one hit and no walks while striking out 2.

P Max Fried (Braves/A) didn’t get a decision on September 3, but he did strike out 10 batters over 4.2 innings. It was his second consecutive 10-strikeout game.

P Brad Goldberg (White Sox/AAA) shut out his opponents in two one-inning relief appearances and earned his 10th save of the season.

P Raul Jacobson (Mets/A-short-season) pitched 6 shutout innings to earn a win on September 3, yielding 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 1.

Transactions

• The Pirates promoted P Henry Hirsch to Double-A. It is his first time playing at that level.
• The Mets promoted P Tyler Herron to Triple-A.
• The Rays promoted P Kenny Rosenberg, a 2016 draftee, from the rookie Gulf Coast League to the rookie Appalachian League.
• The Pirates released 23-year-old C Nate Irving, a 2014 draftee who hit .276 in 2015 but hasn’t played since then.
• P Jake Drossner (Brewers/A) came off the disabled list.
• LF Jake Thomas (Blue Jays/A) went on the disabled list.

Disabled list

• LF Jake Thomas (Blue Jays/A).
• C Adam Sonabend (Giants/A).
• P Alec Grosser (Dodgers/High-A).
• LF Ryan Kalish (Cubs/AAA).
• 2B Mason Katz (Cardinals/AA).
• P Jon Moscot (Reds/AAA). Elbow.
• P Zack Weiss (Reds/AA). Shoulder.

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By Scott Barancik, editor

(Editor’s note: Coverage of the MLB amateur draft is a collaboration between Jewish Baseball News and our friends at Jewish Sports Review, a bi-monthly newsletter that tracks Jewish athletes in multiple sports around the globe. Click here for subscription information.)

At least six Jewish players were selected in MLB’s 2014 amateur draft, led by Princeton hurler Michael Fagan, a 9th-round pick.

It’s one of the smallest crops in years (although additional Jewish draftees may be identified as time passes). Last year, MLB teams drafted 13 Jewish players, and the 2012 and 2013 drafts both produced 1st-round Jewish picks. Several of this year’s players are not expected to sign.

But the 2014 crew is a talented group. Here is a first look at them, in order of draft selection.

Michael Fagan, 22

• DOB: 5/12/1992
• Parents: Bruce and Jan Fagan
• Twitter: @belikemike_31
• Height: 6’0”
• Weight: 195 lbs.
• Position: LHP
• School: Princeton
• MLB team: Athletics
• Round/Pick: 9/282

This wasn’t Michael Fagan’s first MLB draft. After graduating from San Diego Jewish Academy in 2010, his hometown Padres picked him in the 45th round. But the left-handed pitcher opted to attend Princeton instead.

It proved a wise choice. Fagan struggled mightily with the Princeton Tigers at first. Freshman and sophomore years, he had a combined 2-6 record and 10.93 ERA. Junior year, he went 1-4 with a 7.99 ERA. But after working on his fundamentals and seeing a sports psychologist (see article), he turned things around senior year. Fagan went 4-2 with a 2.33 ERA across nine starts, led the Ivy League with 77 strikeouts, issued just 18 walks, and was named to the All-Ivy League First Team.

Fagan was the sixth pitcher selected by Oakland in the 2014 draft but the first left-hander. He received a $20,000 signing bonus and reportedly has been assigned to play for the Vermont Lake Monsters, the franchise’s A-short-season team.

Julian Barzilli, 23

• DOB: 11/16/1990
• Parents: Ron and Lu Barzilli
• Twitter: none
• Height: 6’0”
• Weight: 185 lbs.
• Position: 3B
• School: Whittier (CA)
• Team: Cardinals
• Round/Pick: 31/945

Another 21 rounds passed at the 2014 draft before the next Jewish player was selected, but Julian Barzulli was worth the wait.

Consider Barzulli’s 2014 season, for which the Whittier Poet — yes, they are called the Poets — was named the ABCA/Rawlings Division III West Region Player of the Year. The 23-year-old third baseman hit .390, led all Division III players with 17 HRs — including a three-HR performance against Occidental on March 29 — drove in 52 runs, and ranked third overall with an .851 slugging percentage. Despite being a power hitter, he walked more often (27) than he struck out (25).

Just the seventh Poet to be drafted since 1965, Barzulli led the college to its first-ever post-season appearance in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. He’s not the only baseballing Barzulli; brother Elliott just finished his freshman season with the Georgia Tech team.

St. Louis has assigned Barzilli to the GCL Cardinals, a rookie-league team.

Nate Irving, 21

• DOB: 10/17/1992
• Parents: Jonathan and Rheva Irving
• Twitter: @UVAJuliusirving
• Height: 6’0”
• Weight: 230 lbs.
• Position: C
• School: Virginia
• Team: Diamondbacks
• Round/Pick: 34/1,020

Before the 2014 draft, Baseball America ranked Virginia junior Nate Irving the #354th best player in the pool. The publication called him a “contact-oriented hitter” who walks more than he strikes out and “makes up for his power deficiency with advanced plate discipline and knowledge of the strike zone.”

Defensively, Irving was more than solid, making only 3 errors in 2014 and tossing out 12 of 26 base stealers. “A catch-and-throw backstop with intangibles,” Baseball America noted.

Perhaps too intangible for some. For unknown reasons, Irving was drafted 1,020th overall, well below his projected slot.

Bradley Wilpon, 18

• DOB: 8/9/1995
• Parents: Jeff and Valerie Wilpon
• Twitter: @Mistahbrad95
• Height: 5’10”
• Weight: 175 lbs.
• Position: RHP
• School: Brunswick H.S. (CT)
• Team: Red Sox
• Round/Pick: 36/1,094

One of two 18-year-olds selected in the draft, Bradley Wilpon began his high-school career with a splash, tossing a no-hitter in his first start as a freshman on on the varsity squad. He finished well, too, compiling a 5-1 record his senior year with a 1.54 ERA.

He comes from a baseball family. Grandfather Fred Wilpon is principal owner of the New York Mets, and father Jeff Wilpon is the franchise’s chief operating officer. But the family’s talent extends beyond the front office. Jeff, a catcher, was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 5th round of the 1982 draft and by the Montreal Expos in the 4th round of the 1983 draft.

Wilpon is expected to play baseball at the University of Pennsylvania this Fall rather than sign with Boston.

Keith Weisenberg, 18

• DOB: 12/6/1995
• Parents: Marc and Sheryl Weisenberg
• Twitter: @KWeis_
• Height: 6’5”
• Weight: 195 lbs.
• Position: RHP
• School: Osceola H.S. (FL)
• Team: Blue Jays
• Round/Pick: 38/1,134
• MLB.com scouting video

A 6’5″ high schooler whose fastball touches 95 mph, Keith Weisenberg was projected to go as high as the first two rounds of the 2014 draft. Baseball America ranked him the #70 player in the draft pool.

Stats tell part of the story. In 2014, the 18-year-old went 9-2 with a 1.09 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 64 innings. He also hit .329 with 2 HRs and 15 RBIs. On top of that, Weisenberg graduated summa cum laude this year and was a member of the National Honor Society.

Said Baseball America: “The ball jumps from Weisenberg’s hand and he pitches off a fastball with plus life. It plays up beyond its pure velocity readings with downhill plane, arm-side run and sink. Weisenberg, who spots up effectively to both sides of the plate, has a minimal-effort delivery with a loose arm that looks like he is playing catch and will likely allow him to have above-average control.” MLB.com also enthused. “It’s rare for a top high school right-hander out of Florida to be described as projectable, but it’s a label that fits Weisenberg well.”

But MLB teams knew he planned to attend Stanford unless they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Instead, they let him go until the late rounds, so Stanford it is. Weisenberg will be eligible for the draft again after his junior year, in 2017.

Kyle Ruchim, 21

• DOB: 8/11/1992
• Parents: Mitch Ruchim and Karen Ruchim
• Twitter: @RucDaddy
• Height: 5’10”
• Weight: 180 lbs.
• Position: 2B
• School: Northwestern
• Team: Cardinals
• Round/Pick: 39/1,185

The final known Jewish player selected in the draft — and the second taken by St. Louis — Northwestern’s Kyle Ruchim had a phenomenal junior year in 2013. He ranked 4th in the Big Ten in batting average (.365), 3rd in OBP (.441), and 4th in slugging (.513). Although he was drafted as a second baseman, Ruchim assembled a 4-4 pitching record during his first three years of college, earning 14 saves and striking out 86 batters in 72 innings.

Senior year, Northwestern named him team captain, and Perfect Game named him one of the top 100 college seniors in the country. Unfortunately, the two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection played just two games in 2014 before being injured and undergoing season-ending surgery. St. Louis drafted him anyway.

Ruchim graduated this year with a degree in biology. He’s reportedly likely to sign with the Cardinals, although returning to Northwestern for a 4th season is an option.

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