Eric Robert Filia (born July 6, 1992), formerly known as Eric Snyder, is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Guerreros de Oaxaca of the Mexican League. He played internationally for the United States national baseball team at the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Amateur career

Filia graduated from Edison High School in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...

. As a freshman, he had a .500 batting average for the baseball team, tying a school record set by Jeff Kent, and set a school record for

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he played college baseball for the UCLA Bruins. He was a member of the

2013 College World Series The 2013 NCAA Division I baseball tournament began on Friday, May 31, 2013 as part of the 2013 NCAA Division I baseball season. The 64 team double elimination tournament concluded with the 2013 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, which began ...

champions, and had five runs batted in during the decisive game. After the 2013 college season, Filia 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 ...

for the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox in

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 one thousan ...

, and tore the labrum in his right shoulder, causing him to miss the 2014 season. He took a redshirt in 2014, and was suspended for the 2014–15 academic year for plagiarizing a paper. While he was suspended from UCLA, Filia worked as a

butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

at the Playboy Mansion. He played summer collegiate baseball for the Kenosha Kingfish in the Northwoods League in 2015.

Professional career

Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners selected Filia in the 20th round of the

2016 MLB draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be d ...

. He played for the Everett AquaSox after signing, and for the Modesto Nuts in 2017. After the 2017 season, the Mariners assigned him to the Arizona Fall League, where he earned the Dernell Stenson Sportsmanship Award. Filia was suspended for 50 games during the 2018 season for his second positive test for a drug of abuse. After his suspension, he joined the Arkansas Travelers, before the Mariners traded Filia to the Boston Red Sox as the player to be named later from the

Roenis Elías Roenis Leliebre Elías (; ; born August 1, 1988) is a Cuban left-handed professional baseball pitcher in the Chicago Cubs organization. He made his MLB debut in 2014. He previously played in MLB for the Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals and Se ...

trade. He failed his physical exam with the Red Sox and was returned to Seattle, with the Red Sox acquiring cash considerations instead. Before the 2019 season, Filia was suspended for 100 games for his third positive drug test. He played for the Tacoma Rainiers in 2019 after his suspension, but did not play organized baseball in 2020 because of the cancellation of the minor league season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filia began the 2021 season with Tacoma. Filia spent the 2021 season with Triple-A Tacoma. He played in 44 games, hitting .262 with 3 home runs and 15 RBI's. On November 1, 2021, Filia was released by the Mariners.

Guerreros de Oaxaca

After taking the 2022 season off, on January 18, 2023, Filia signed with the Guerreros de Oaxaca of the Mexican League.

International career

Filia played for the United States national baseball team during qualification for

baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics Baseball was featured at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics. Six national teams competed in the tournament: Israel, Japan (host), Mexico, South Korea, the United States, and the Dominican Republ ...

, contested in 2021 in Tokyo. After the team qualified, he was named to the Olympics roster on July 2. The team went on to win silver, falling to Japan in the gold-medal game.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Filia, Eric 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Carlsbad, California Baseball outfielders Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Baseball players from California UCLA Bruins baseball players Everett AquaSox players Modesto Nuts players Peoria Javelinas players Arkansas Travelers players Tacoma Rainiers players Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players United States national baseball team players Olympic baseball players of the United States Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in baseball American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Guerreros de Oaxaca players