By Scott Barancik, Editor
Welcome back, baseball fans! This week we’re tracking Dean Kremer’s eye-popping debut in Minnesota, a tape-measure blast from Zack Gelof, Max Fried’s gem against his former team, several roster cuts, and a flurry of minor-league milestones. We also dive into the NCAA transfer portal and update our all-time Major League roster.
Play ball!
MLB NEWS
Minnesota’s acquisition of RHP Dean Kremer is already paying dividends. After giving up one earned run over five innings in his August 5 debut, Kremer tossed seven innings of one-hit ball on August 10. He yielded one earned run en route to a 9-5 victory over Baltimore— the club that dealt him—and allowed only three of the 22 batters he faced to reach base
LHP Max Fried (Yankees) turned in a gem against his former team on August 7, tossing 6.1 scoreless innings against Atlanta. He allowed three hits and two walks while striking out seven in a 3-2 win. Though Fried took a no-decision, he remains 4-3 this season with a 2.88 ERA—11th-best among AL pitchers with more than 80 innings—and 0.97 WHIP
Talk about returning with a splash. Sidelined since July 9 after lacerating his knee while making a sliding catch, 2B Zack Gelof (Athletics) celebrated his return to Oakland’s lineup with a home run and an RBI double in a loss to the Rays. The tape-measure blast traveled a career-best 456 feet—20 feet longer than his previous high. Six days earlier, Gelof kicked off his Triple-A rehab assignment with a three-run shot
With his team trailing the Orioles 1-0 on August 7, DH Joc Pederson (Rangers) launched a two-run, 414-foot HR that put Texas ahead for good. The first-pitch shot left Pederson’s bat at a season-high 109.6 mph
RHP Jake Bird, acquired by Washington from the Yankees in an August 3 trade, made his Nationals debut on August 9, throwing 1.1 scoreless innings with one hit and one strikeout. According to author Bob Wechsler, Bird is just the third Jewish player to wear a Nationals jersey, joining C CJ Stubbs (who played one game in 2025) and RHP Jason Marquis (2010-11). Including the Montreal Expos era prior to 2005, RHP Steve Ratzer (1980-81) also joins the list
3B Alex Bregman (Cubs) hit a game-tying, two-run HR in a 3-2 win over the Blue Jays on August 6. In his first season with Chicago, the veteran is hitting .281 on the road, compared to just .216 at Wrigley Field
MINOR-LEAGUE BULLETIN
Batting cleanup, 3B Jake Gelof (Dodgers/AA) crushed a grand-slam HR on August 6 to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead and propel his first-place team to victory over the Astros affiliate. Through August 10, Gelof’s 22 HRs ranked sixth in the Texas League
OF Adam Fogel took an unconventional route to MLB-affiliated ball, playing in college, the MLB Draft League, and the independent Pioneer League (where he had a spectacular run) before signing his first MLB contract with the White Sox in February—at age 27. And he made the most of it. After going 6-for-13 with two HRs in rookie ball, Fogel leapfrogged to AA and hit .250 (20-for-80) with five HRs, six doubles, 17 RBIs and an .835 OPS. Despite homering every 13.3 at-bats, Chicago released him July 31
SS Henry Godbout (Red Sox/High-A) was hit by pitches twice in an August 6 rehab game—including once with the bases loaded to force in the go-ahead run. Though his team fell 10-9 to the Astros affiliate, Baseball America reported on August 10 that Godbout was being promoted to AA, bouncing back after missing all of June and most of July with a broken hand
RHP Jacob Steinmetz (Diamondbacks/High-A) threw four hitless innings in his first High-A appearance of the year, surrendering just one walk and a hit batter while striking out four in a win over the Angels affiliate. As with his seven prior starts this season, Steinmetz took a no-decision and remains 0-0 across three leagues
LHP Jared Shuster (Cardinals/AAA) threw three shutout innings in an August 6 loss to the Brewers affiliate. He allowed just one baserunner—a leadoff single—and struck out four on a highly efficient 33 pitches
Declaring free agency on July 4—and re-signing just three days later—hasn’t slowed Rowdy Tellez’s bat. Since returning to Atlanta’s AAA team, Tellez has hit .282 with a team-leading five HRs, 15 RBIs, a .364 OBP, and an .864 OPS
August 5 was a memorable day for several Jewish pitchers across the minors:
LHP Ryan Prager (Guardians/Single-A) was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Week for August 3-9 after delivering the finest start of his pro career. The 6-foot-3-inch southpaw tossed 6.2 shutout innings with a career-high nine strikeouts in a 2-0 victory over the Brewers affiliate on August 7, allowing only four of the 24 batters he faced to reach base. Prager and LHP Colton Gordon (Brewers) are among just 25 pitchers to win Pitcher of the Week honors at least twice this season; Gordon earning three
RHP RJ Gordon (Mets/AA) struck out a career-high 10 batters over six innings in an August 5 victory over the Rockies affiliate. He yielded one earned run on three hits and a walk, shattering his previous strikeout best of seven
RHP Josh Blum (Mets/High-A) earned his first save of the season in an August 5 win over the Nationals affiliate, tossing a perfect inning with one strikeout
RHP Josh Mallitz (Padres/AA) earned his fifth save of the season in a win over the Cardinals affiliate, tying the team lead. Two days later, the 6-foot-3-inch Florida native threw two scoreless innings to improve his season record to 4-0. Mallitz boasts a team-best 1.08 WHIP
RELEASED OR RETIRED
LHP Ryan Sherriff, who pitched for the Cardinals, Rays, and Red Sox over a five-year MLB career, announced his retirement in a heartfelt Substack post in late June. We wish Ryan the best in his post-baseball adventures
Detroit released RHP Scott Effross (AAA) on August 8. Effross, who debuted with the Cubs in 2021 and later pitched for the Yankees, missed the entire 2023 season due to Tommy John surgery and has struggled to regain his form since returning. In 2021 and 2022, the 32-year-old Ohio native went a combined 3-5 with a 2.78 ERA, four saves, a 1.037 WHIP, and an 80-to-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In 2024 and 2025, Effross went a combined 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA and no saves in limited play. He spent 2026 with the Yankees’ and Tigers’ Triple-A teams
Two minor leaguers who played for Israel in the 2026 World Baseball Classic were released this past week. The Mets cut RHP Jordan Geber (AA) on August 3, and the Tigers released RHP Carlos Lequerica on August 6
INDEPENDENT LEAGUES
RHP Tanner Jacobson (Long Island Ducks) took a no-hitter into the 9th inning in an 8-0 win over Hagerstown on July 3, finally yielding a leadoff single to end the bid. He subsequently was named the independent Atlantic League’s Pitcher of the Week for June 30-July 5
ALL-TIME ROSTER UPDATE
In light of new information, Jewish Baseball News is removing the late Al Federoff from our all-time roster of Jewish ballplayers. More than 30 years ago, the former Tigers second baseman told a researcher his parents were Jewish and his family were the only Jews in a small Pennsylvania mining town. However, conflicting evidence later emerged. Federoff’s wife denied he was Jewish, his purported great-nephew insisted the former ballplayer was Russian Orthodox Christian. More recently, author Bob Wechsler obtained photos of Federoff’s tombstone and those of his parents; all feature crosses and are located in Christian cemeteries. While it remains possible the Federoff family was secretly Jewish, the circumstantial evidence compels us to remove him from our roster
MLB DRAFT LEAGUE
The six-team MLB Draft League features a split-season format: the first half showcases draft-eligible amateurs, while the second operates as a paid pro league for players who have exhausted their amateur eligibility. At least one Jewish player, RHP Alex Kranzler (Trenton Thunder), pitched in the first half—just days before the Red Sox selected him in the 17th round of the 2026 MLB Draft. Kranzler started five games for the Draft League’s Trenton Thunder, going 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA and 0.87 WHIP
At least four other 2026 college graduates are now playing in the Draft League’s professional second half. RHP Jacob Fried (Aberdeen IronBirds/Loyola Marymount) allowed three runs, three walks, and a hit batter in his lone game so far, a July 9 loss. C Elie Kligman (State College Spikes/University of Michigan) is batting .240 (6-for-25) with a triple, four RBIs, a .355 OBP, and .675 OPS. 2B Zev Moore (Trenton Thunder/Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is hitting .077 (1-for-13) with a .327 OPS. C Ethan Swidler (State College Spikes/University of Washington) is batting .137 (7-for-51) with one double, two RBIs, a .281 OBP, and .481 OPS
COLLEGE UPDATE
After going unselected in the 2026 MLB Draft, 3B Ryan Zuckerman announced he will return to Georgia Tech for his 2027 senior year. That’s fantastic news for the Yellow Jackets. In 2026—his first year there after transferring from the University of Pittsburgh—Zuckerman hit .345 (80-for-232) with 23 HRs (2nd in the ACC), 79 RBIs (3rd), a .438 OBP, and a 1.158 OPS (4th). He earned D1 Baseball All-American, First-Team All-ACC, and ACC Tournament MVP honors
Roughly 2,400 Division I baseball players entered the NCAA transfer portal after the 2026 season ended. Jewish Baseball News has identified 23 Jewish players among them. Here their transfer status as of August 10:
Successfully transferring to another Division I school
- Aric Berg: Fordham University to University of Washington
- Charlie Buckles: Florida State University to Northwestern University
- Nate Eisfelder: University of Tennessee to Indiana University
- Ethan Hott: Stanford University to University of Southern California
- Cooper Katskee: University of Nebraska to University of Notre Dame
- Maddon Ocko: Fordham University to New Mexico State University
- Nate Kugler: Dartmouth College to University of Southern California
- Jake Moss: University of Pennsylvania to University of North Carolina
- Ben Schulman: University of Virginia to Dartmouth College
Transferring to non-Division I school
- Liam Kirsh: Indiana State University to Murray State College (junior college)
- Wyatt Shaw: Valparaiso University to Walters State Community College (junior college)
Still in NCAA’s Transfer Portal
- Drew Charney (University of Nevada-Las Vegas)
- Alex Cohen (Sacramento State University)
- Andrew Cohen (Grand Canyon University)
- Lawrence Elinson (Long Island University)
- Marc Emmerman (San Diego State University)
- Ethan Firestein (Bucknell University)
- Asher Friedman (Alcorn State University)
- Aidan Gelbsman (Boston College)
- Ari Kligman (Sacramento State University)
- Jack Ruditzky (Rider University)
- Mike Savino (Manhattan University)
- Austin Weiss (University of Maryland)
—Da End—
