Daniel Alexander Slania (born May 24, 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 ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. 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

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

in 2017.

Amateur career

Slania was drafted by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

in the 42nd round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft out of Salpointe High School in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. He did not sign with the Red Sox and attended the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

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, ...

. In 2012, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

and was named a league all-star.

Professional career

Slania was drafted by the

in the fifth round, with the 162nd overall selection, of the

2013 Major League Baseball draft The 2013 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in reverse order of ...

. He made his professional debut for the Low-A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, posting a 3.95 ERA over 12 games. Slania split the 2014 season between the Single-A Augusta GreenJackets and Double-A

Richmond Flying Squirrels The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club, and plays at The Diamond. Th ...

. In 53 appearances out of the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if ...

for the two affiliates, he compiled an aggregate 2-5 record and 3.47 ERA with 49 strikeouts and 12 saves over 70 innings. In 2015, Slania made 59 relief appearances for the High-A San Jose Giants, logging a 4-5 record and 3.53 ERA with 90 strikeouts and 16 saves across innings pitched. Slania became a starting pitcher midway through the 2016 season after previously pitching in relief throughout his career and in college. In 34 appearances (16 starts) split between San Jose, Richmond, and the Triple-A

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland ...

, he registered a combined 11-8 record and 2.93 ERA with 111 strikeouts across innings pitched. On November 18, 2016, the Giants added Slania to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. On June 28, 2017, following an injury to Mark Melancon, Slania was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. He made his MLB debut on June 30, tossing a scoreless inning of relief against the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, and was optioned down to Triple-A the following day. On November 20, Slania was removed from the 40-man roster and sent outright to Triple-A Sacramento. Slania spent the 2018 season with Double-A Richmond, posting a 1-3 record and 2.43 ERA with 69 strikeouts in innings pitched across 47 appearances. Slania was released by the Giants organization on March 18, 2019.

References

External links

Notre Dame Fighting Irish bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slania, Dan 1992 births Living people Baseball players from Phoenix, Arizona Major League Baseball pitchers San Francisco Giants players Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball players Cotuit Kettleers players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players Augusta GreenJackets players Richmond Flying Squirrels players San Jose Giants players Scottsdale Scorpions players Sacramento River Cats players