Another Dutchie promoted to higher level

The last couple of days, you could read here about players from the Dutch Kingdom who were promoted to a higher level in Minor League Baseball. This is another post like that. This time Zander Wiel has been promoted from A Advanced to AA.

On Instagram, I bumped into this post where Zander was shown taking batting practice with the Chattanooga Lookouts.

Zander, the son of former Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Randy Wiel, who is a Curaçao native, played with the Fort Myers Miracle last season. Even though he had a mediocre batting average (.250) for the season, He finished the 2017 season with a bang as he hit a whopping .351 in his final ten games. During his third season, he proved to have some pop in his bat as he hit 13 home runs and 9 triples. In the previous season (2016), Zander even hit 19 dingers.

Even though Zander played most games at first base last year (80), he also played 18 games in left field. In left field he committed three errors (.917 fielding percentage), while he made eleven at first base, resulting in a .985 fielding percentage.

Zander is moving through the minors at a quick pace. He broke into professional baseball in the Appalachian League (Advanced Rookie) in 2015, one season later he already spent time at A Full Season with Cedar Rapids Kernels in the Midwest League. And after just one season in the Florida State League, he will call Chattanooga home for a year, depending on his development.