Shane Austin Baz (born June 17, 1999) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("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, who attempts to e ...

for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021.

Early life

Baz was born to Lebanese father Raja and American mother Tammy. His father was born in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon, and played soccer in his native country before moving to the United States at the age of 15.

Amateur career

Baz attended Concordia Lutheran High School in

Tomball, Texas Tomball ( ) is a city in Harris County in the U.S. state of Texas, a part of the Houston metropolitan area. The population was 12,341 at the 2020 U.S. census. In 1907, the community of Peck was renamed Tomball for local congressman Thomas Henry ...

. As a junior, he had a 1.06

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

(ERA) with 46 strikeouts over 23 innings. Baz was a member of the United States national team in 2016. Baz committed to

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

(TCU) to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

. Considered one of the top prospects for the

2017 Major League Baseball draft The 2017 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 12, 2017. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first 36 picks, including the first round and compensatory picks, were broadcast on MLB Network on ...

, 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 (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

selected him with the 12th overall pick. He officially signed with the Pirates a few days after the draft.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Pirates

Baz spent 2017 with the

Gulf Coast League Pirates The Florida Complex League Pirates are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Pirates. The team plays its h ...

, posting an 0–3 record with a 3.80 ERA in innings pitched.

MLB.com MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (a subsidiary of MLB). MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports column ...

ranked Baz as Pittsburgh's third best prospect going into the 2018 season. He pitched for the

Bristol Pirates The Bristol Pirates were a Minor League Baseball team in Bristol, Virginia, United States. They were a Rookie-level team in the Appalachian League. The team played home games at DeVault Memorial Stadium. Opened in 1969, Devault Memorial Stadium ...

of the Rookie-level

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from J ...

Tampa Bay Rays

On August 14, 2018, Baz was acquired by the

as a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

from an earlier trade in which the Pirates also sent

Tyler Glasnow Tyler Allen Glasnow (born August 23, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Early life Glasnow was born on August 23, 199 ...

and

Austin Meadows Austin Wade Meadows (born May 3, 1995) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays. Early life and amateur c ...

to the Rays for

Chris Archer Christopher Alan Archer (born September 26, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins. Archer attended C ...

. The Rays assigned him to the Princeton Rays of the Appalachian League. Over 12 starts between Bristol and Princeton, Baz went 4–5 with a 4.47 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. Baz began the 2019 season in extended spring training before reporting to the

Bowling Green Hot Rods The Bowling Green Hot Rods are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and play their home games at Bowling Green Ballpark, which op ...

in early May. Over 17 starts with Bowling Green, Baz went 3–2 with a 2.99 ERA, striking out 87 batters over innings. He was selected to play in the

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

for 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 near Scottsdale, Arizona. The ballpark is also the spring training facility ...

following the season. In June 2021, Baz was selected to play in the

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National Le ...

. Baz was promoted to the major leagues on September 20, 2021, to make his debut that same night at

Tropicana Field Tropicana Field (commonly known as the Trop) is a multi-purpose domed stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The stadium has been the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) since the team's inaugural seas ...

. He started against the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

and threw five innings in which he gave up two earned runs on two hits (both were home runs) while striking out five. He made his post-season starting debut in the second game of the American League Division Series against 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) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...

on October 8, 2021.

International career

On July 2, 2021, Baz was named to the roster for the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

for the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in 2021 in Tokyo. The team won the silver medal, losing to Japan in the gold-medal game.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baz, Shane 1999 births Living people American people of Lebanese descent Sportspeople of Lebanese descent People from Cypress, Texas Baseball players from Texas Major League Baseball pitchers Tampa Bay Rays players Gulf Coast Pirates players Bristol Pirates players Princeton Rays players Bowling Green Hot Rods players Salt River Rafters players Montgomery Biscuits players Durham Bulls players Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players of the United States Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in baseball