Grayson James Greiner (born October 11, 1992) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

and

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

from 2018 to 2022.

Career

Amateur career

Greiner graduated from

Blythewood High School Blythewood is a town in Richland and Fairfield counties, South Carolina, United States; and a suburb of Columbia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of the town was 4,772. History Blythewood was originally named "Doko", ...

Blythewood, South Carolina Blythewood is a town in Richland and Fairfield counties, South Carolina, United States; and a suburb of Columbia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of the town was 4,772. History Blythewood was originally named "Doko", ...

. He enrolled at the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fight ...

from 2012 to 2014. He played in 179 games during his Gamecocks career, hitting .278/.358/.435 with 18

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

Minor leagues

The

selected Greiner in the third round of the

2014 Major League Baseball draft The 2014 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 5 through June 7, 2014, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first two rounds were conducted on June 5, followed by rounds three through ten on June 6, and the last 30 round ...

. He signed with the Tigers and made his professional debut with the

West Michigan Whitecaps The West Michigan Whitecaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Comstock Park, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, and play their home games at LMCU Ballpar ...

. He played in 26 games before a broken

hamate bone The hamate bone (from Latin hamatus, "hooked"), or unciform bone (from Latin '' uncus'', "hook"), Latin os hamatum and occasionally abbreviated as just hamatum, is a bone in the human wrist readily distinguishable by its wedge shape and a hook- ...

in his left wrist ended his season. He hit .322/.394/.444 with two home runs. Greiner spent 2015 with the

Lakeland Flying Tigers The Lakeland Flying Tigers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Lakeland, Florida, and play their home games at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. ...

, where he struggled, batting only .183 in 89 games. However, Greiner improved greatly in 2016, where he split time among Lakeland, the

Erie SeaWolves The Erie SeaWolves are an American professional baseball team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They compete in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) as a member of the Eastern League's Southwest Division, serving as the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Ti ...

, and the

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

, posting a combined .293 batting average with seven home runs and 42 RBIs between the three clubs. After the season, the Tigers assigned Greiner to the

Salt River Rafters The Salt River Rafters are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, Arizona. ...

of the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

. In 2017, Greiner played for both Erie and Toledo, batting a combined .237 with 14 home runs and 44 RBIs in 103 total games between the two teams. The Tigers added him to their 40-man roster after the season.

Detroit Tigers (2018–2021)

On May 4, 2018, the Tigers promoted Greiner to the major leagues. He made his major league debut two days later, and hit a single in his first-ever major league at-bat. Greiner was sent back down to Toledo on May 31. He was recalled by Detroit on June 12. The Tigers decided not to retain James McCann for the 2019 season which elevated Greiner to the starting catcher position after only playing in 30 games the previous season, his first season in the majors. On June 14, the Tigers placed Greiner on the 10-day Injured List due to a lower back strain. He was later moved to the 60-day IL. He was activated from the IL on August 24 and optioned to triple-A

. Greiner was added to the major league roster as a September call-up. On the season, he hit .202 with 5 home runs and 19 RBI in 208 major league at-bats. Overall with the 2020 Detroit Tigers, Greiner batted .118 with three home runs and 8 RBIs in 18 games. Greiner made the Tigers

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent year ...

roster out of 2021 spring training, and was expected to back up newly acquired

Wilson Ramos Wilson Abraham Ramos Campos (born August 10, 1987), nicknamed "the Buffalo", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Washington Nationals, Tampa Bay Rays, Philadelph ...

. Greiner was placed on the 10-day injured list on May 12. He was optioned to Toledo after coming off the injured list due to the strong performance of his replacement, Eric Haase. Greiner was recalled to the major league club on July 19 following an injury to

Jake Rogers Jake Rogers may refer to: * Jake Rogers (baseball) (born 1995), American baseball player * Jake Rogers (footballer) (born 2005), Australian rules footballer * Jake Wesley Rogers (born 1996), American musician {{hndis, Rogers, Jake ...

. He played 31 games at the MLB level in 2021, hitting .236 with one home run and seven RBI. On November 29, 2021, Greiner was outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.

Arizona Diamondbacks (2022)

On March 15, 2022, Greiner signed a minor league contract with the

. He was assigned to the Triple-A

Reno Aces The Reno Aces are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are located in Reno, Nevada, and play their home games at Greater Nevada Field, w ...

to begin the year. On May 19, Greiner was selected to the active roster after José Herrera was placed on the injured list. He was returned to the minors on May 22 after going 1–for–6 in two games. In 45 games for Reno, Greiner batted .232/.318/.391 with 6 home runs and 20 RBI. He elected free agency following the season on November 10.

Colorado Rockies (2023)

On January 13, 2023, Greiner signed a minor league deal with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

. Greiner was released by the organization on March 24. On March 28, 2023, Greiner signed a minor league contract with the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

organization and was assigned to the Triple-A

Albuquerque Isotopes The Albuquerque Isotopes are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They play home games at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at an ...

. He played in 20 games for Albuquerque, hitting .186/.269/.286 with one home run and 8 RBI. On May 7, Greiner retired from professional baseball.

Personal life

Greiner and his wife, Madison, have two sons together.

References

External links

South Carolina Gamecocks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greiner, Grayson 1992 births Living people Arizona Diamondbacks players Baseball players from Columbia, South Carolina Detroit Tigers players Erie SeaWolves players Lakeland Flying Tigers players Major League Baseball catchers Reno Aces players Salt River Rafters players South Carolina Gamecocks baseball players Toledo Mud Hens players West Michigan Whitecaps players