Ben Wanger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ben Wanger
Free agent
Pitcher
Born: (1997-04-07) April 7, 1997 (age 24)[1]
Newton, Massachusetts[2]
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Medals
Men's baseball
Representing  Israel
European Baseball Championship
Silver medal – second place 2021 Israel Team

Ben Wanger (born April 7, 1997) is an American-Israeli professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He also plays for Team Israel. Playing for the Yale Bulldogs he led the Ivy League in RBIs in 2017 and was First-Team All-Ivy, and led the League in ERA in 2018 and was First-Team All-Ivy as a relief pitcher. Wanger was included on the roster for Team Israel at the 2020 Olympics.

Early life[]

Wanger was born in Newton, Massachusetts, and is Jewish.[3][2][4] His parents are David Wanger (who played baseball at Harvard University) and Gwen Kane-Wanger (who played field hockey and lacrosse at Brown University).[5] Some of his family, including his grandmother, are Holocaust survivors.[3][6] He has a sister (Emily Wanger, who played basketball at Yale University) and a brother (Danny Wanger, who played football at Bowdoin).[5] He now lives in Coral Gables, Florida.[7]

High school[]

At Belmont Hill School, he played for the baseball team.[8] In his senior season, as a pitcher he had a 0.73 ERA in 48 innings, and pitched the first perfect game in school history.[8][9] He was All-Independent School League in 2013, 2014, and 2015, and in 2015 was also the Independent School League MVP, Prep Baseball Report All-Massachusetts first team, and Boston Globe Prep All-Scholastic.[8] He also played football (as a defensive end) and basketball (as a forward) for the school.[8]

College[]

Wanger first attended Yale University ('19), graduating with a degree in economics and environmental engineering.[5][10] Playing for the Yale Bulldogs, he was primarily a first baseman and a pitcher.[10] In his sophomore year in 2017 he batted .317/.415/.610(4th in the Ivy League) with 8 home runs (4th) and led the League with 48 RBIs.[10] He was named 2017 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings NCAA Division I Northeast All-Region First Team, New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) Division I All-New England First Team, a unanimous All-Ivy First Team selection, and a first-team All-American (D-I) by the Jewish Sports Review.[8] In 2018, on the mound, he was 2-0 with six saves (2nd in the league) and an 0.90 ERA (leading the league), as in 30 innings over 16 games he gave up 21 hits and struck out 32 batters. He was named All-Ivy First Team as a relief pitcher, All-Ivy Second Team as a first baseman, and 2018 NEIBA Division I All-New England Third Team.[8] After the 2018 season, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[11] Wanger suffered a serious hamstring injury in the fourth game of his senior season in 2019, which caused him to have season-ending surgery and redshirt.[12][3]

In 2019-20 he attended the University of Southern California, where he was a graduate student in the Marshall School of Business studying for a Master in Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation while hoping to work in the renewable energy sector.[8] During the pandemic-shortened season in 2020 Wanger batted .410 (5th in the Pac-12)/.500/.564, and was also the USC Trojans’ closer, and had three saves (2nd) and a 0.00 ERA in six appearances.[8] He was named Collegiate Baseball Newspaper All-America second-team.[8]

Wanger then attended the University of Miami as a graduate student at the Herbert Business School, earning a Master of Science in International Business. He pitched in relief for the Miami Hurricanes in 2021.[13] Prior to the season, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper named him a preseason Second-Team All-American.[14] In March 2021 he had minor surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow, and he was back on the mound two months later.[15][16]

Lancaster Barnstormers[]

In 2021, Wanger pitched for the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.[17] He became a free agent following the season.

Team Israel[]

In August 2019, he obtained Israeli citizenship so that he could play for Team Israel in baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[18]

He pitched for Team Israel at the 2019 European Baseball Championship. He also pitched for the team at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019, which Israel won to qualify to play baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[19][20][21] He had three hits, scored four runs, and had three RBIs, while on the mound he pitched 4.1 scoreless innings, gave up one hit and one walk, and struck out five batters.[5]

Wanger was included on the roster for Team Israel at the 2020 Olympics.[22][6]

References[]

  1. ^ "Ben Wanger Player Card". The Baseball Cube.
  2. ^ a b "Miami Herald". account.miamiherald.com.
  3. ^ a b c "From Israel to Tokyo and Everywhere In-between: Ben Wanger". Untold Athletes.
  4. ^ "On the cusp of greatness". The Jerusalem Post.
  5. ^ a b c d "Ben Wanger - Baseball". USC Athletics.
  6. ^ a b "Barnstormers' Ben Wanger talks Olympic journey of Israel's baseball team | Sunday Sitdown". fox43.com. July 11, 2021.
  7. ^ Carmona, Sergio. "Team Israel Olympic baseball team includes South Florida players". Sun-sentinel.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ben Wanger". University of Miami Athletics. August 18, 2020.
  9. ^ "Madison Wiltrout's national javelin record leads the American Family Insurance ALL-USA Performances of the Week". USA Today. May 8, 2015.
  10. ^ a b c "2017 Ivy League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com.
  11. ^ "Benny Wanger". pointstreak.com. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  12. ^ "USC baseball's Jason Gill: "Standards have been set here. It's our responsibility to bring them back."". NCAA.com.
  13. ^ "University employee heads to the Olympics". news.miami.edu.
  14. ^ "Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Ranks Miami No.6, Names Three Hurricanes All-Americans". State of The U. January 4, 2021.
  15. ^ "RHP/DH Ben Wanger out with elbow injury". InsideTheU.
  16. ^ "Recap: Canes Lose Lopsided Series Opener To Georgia Tech, 14-3". Gables Insider. May 15, 2021.
  17. ^ "Ben Wanger". Lancaster Barnstormers. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  18. ^ "Danny Valencia goes from the Sunshine State to the Jewish state," Israel HaYom.
  19. ^ "EUROPEAN Championship A-Pool - Israel". Baseballstats.eu. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  20. ^ "U.S. Baseball pros arrive to claim Israeli citizenship, qualify for Olympics". Haaretz. November 22, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  21. ^ "'Who the F is that guy?' From Yale to USC to Miami to Olympics, Ben Wanger makes impact". Miami Herald.
  22. ^ "IAB - Israel Association of Baseball - Team Israel releases 24-man roster for Tokyo". baseball.org.il.

External links[]

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