Minor Leagues

By Scott Barancik, Editor We’ve seen many Jewish accomplishments in the minor leagues between July 8, 2022 and September 15, 2022. Following are some highlights: Mazel Tov MLB.com recently named 3B Zack Gelof (Athletics/Double-A/Midland RockHounds) #98 out of baseball’s 100 top minor-league prospects. The website projected that Gelof, just 22 years old, will make it…

By Scott Barancik, editor Two prospects who had been under Jewish Baseball News’ radar are now locked in. Both are infielders, power hitters, and high draft picks who play at the Double-A level Chase Strumpf (Cubs/AA/Tennessee Smokies), a 24-year-old UCLA alum who once played on Team USA’s 15-and-under squad and splits his time between second…

By Scott Barancik, Editor It’s been two months since Jewish Baseball News brought you up to date on how our minor leaguers are doing. Here are some highlights through games played July 7, 2022: Mazel Tov Every year, 50 of the top prospects in the minor-league system are chosen to play in the MLB All-Star…

By Scott Barancik, Editor A total of 33 Jewish players have played minor-league ball in 2022. Here are some highlights through games played May 10: At the plate 3B Zack Gelof (Athletics/AA/Midland RockHounds) is only 22 years old, but the 2021 draftee is tearing up the Texas League (AA) like an old pro. The University…

By Scott Barancik, editor Spencer Horwitz, a surging prospect with the Toronto Blue Jays franchise, is the latest minor-league player to be identified as Jewish. The Jays got a bargain when they plucked Horwitz out of Radford University in the 24th round of the 2019 amateur draft. In just two seasons — 2020 was wiped…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Minor-league baseball went dark in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Happily, play has resumed in 2021. During May, the first month of the 2021 season, a total of 35 athletes on the Jewish Baseball News roster played minor-league ball. This is a smaller number than in recent seasons, thanks to…

By Scott Barancik, Editor The 2019 minor-league season is all but over. Here are all the playoff stats — good and bad — for the week of September 9-15, 2019: Mazel tov Israel’s national baseball team finished 4th in the 12-team European Championship that ended Sunday (9/15/2019), good enough to advance to the Olympic qualifiers…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of September 2-8, 2019. Since most leagues completed their regular season on September 2, the stats include playoff performances: Hitter of the Week: Andy Yerzy (Diamondbacks) 1B Andy Yerzy (Diamondbacks/A-short-season/Hillsboro Hops) went 1-for-3 with a double, walk, and 3 RBIs in the team’s…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of August 26-September 1, 2019. Because there were no standout performances at the plate, Jewish Baseball News is skipping its regular Hitter of the Week award. Pitcher of the Week: Sam Delaplane (Mariners) Sam Delaplane (Mariners/AA/Arkansas Travelers) pitched 3.1 hitless innings over 3 games…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of August 19-25, 2019: Hitter of the Week: CJ Stubbs (Astros) C CJ Stubbs* (Astros/A/Quad Cities River Bandits) hit .304 (7-for-23) with 2 HRs, 3 doubles, and 7 RBIs. The highlight came on August 23, when Stubbs went 4-for-4 with 2 HRs and…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of August 12-18, 2019: Hitter of the Week: Scott Manea (Astros) C Scott Manea (Astros/High-A/Fayetteville Woodpeckers) hit .286 (4-for-14) with 3 HRs, 3 RBIs, and 7 walks last week, good enough for a .524 on-base percentage. The highlight was a 2-HR game on…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of August 5-11, 2019: Hitter of the Week: Rowdy Tellez (Blue Jays) 1B Rowdy Tellez (Blue Jays/AAA/Buffalo Bisons) hit .478 (11-for-23) with 7 doubles, a HR, 2 RBIs and a .520 OBP. Since Toronto sent him to the minors on July 15, Tellez…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of July 29-August 4, 2019: Hitter of the Week: Zane Gurwitz (Angels) 2B Zane Gurwitz (Angels/High-A/Inland Empire 66ers) hit .391 (9-for-23) with a home run, triple, 2 doubles, 7 RBIs, and a .462 OBP. The highlight: going 4-for-5 with a HR on August…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of July 22-28, 2019: Hitter of the Week: Rowdy Tellez (Blue Jays) 1B Rowdy Tellez (Blue Jays/Triple-A/Buffalo Bisons), who was sent down to Triple-A on July 15, made a strong case last week for returning to Toronto, hitting .429 (9-for-21) with 4 HRs, a…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of July 15-21, 2019: Hitter of the Week: Ryan Lavarnway (Reds) C Ryan Lavarnway signed a one-year Major League contract with Cincinnati on July 18 and wasted no time contributing. In his Reds debut the following day — his first Major League start…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of July 8-14, 2019:   Hitter of the Week: David Vinsky (Cardinals) OF David Vinsky (Cardinals/A-short-season/State College Spikes), a 2019 draftee, hit .444 (12-for-27) with 3 doubles, 2 stolen bases, 5 RBIs, just 3 strikeouts, and a .500 OBP, highlighted by a 5-for-5…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Because we didn’t publish Minor-League Monday last week, today we give you highlights for the past two weeks (June 24-July 7, 2019): Hitter of the Fortnight: Cody Decker (Diamondbacks) 1B Cody Decker (Diamondbacks/AAA/Reno Aces), whose 204 career home runs rank #1 among active minor leaguers, retired from baseball in style last…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of June 17-23, 2019:   Hitter of the Week: CJ Stubbs (Astros) C CJ Stubbs (Astros/A-short-season/Tri-City ValleyCats) homered in his first pro at-bat on June 20…and then homered again the following day. For the week, the younger brother of Astros catcher Garrett Stubbs…

By Scott Barancik, Editor Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of June 10-16, 2019: Hitter of the Week: Scotty Burcham (Rockies) SS Scotty Burcham (Rockies/AA/Hartford Yard Goats) hit .333 (4-for-12) with 2 doubles, 2 RBIs, and a .467 OBP. Two of his hits came during a June 12 start by teammate Brandon Gold….