Alexander McBrayer "Zander" Wiel (born January 11, 1993) is an American professional baseball outfielder and first baseman for the High Point Rockers of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...

. He was drafted by 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) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

in the 12th round of the

2015 Major League Baseball draft The 2015 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 8 through June 10, 2015, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2014 MLB season standings. As the Diamondbacks ...

Early life and amateur career

Wiel was born and grew up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and attended

Blackman High School Blackman High School is a high school located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States which is operated by the Rutherford County Schools. The school was established in 2000 to complement the existing Blackman Elementary School. History Black ...

. Wiel was named first team All-District and first team All-Region each season from his sophomore year on. Wiel redshirted his freshman season at Vanderbilt. As a redshirt freshman, he batted .305 with five home runs and 27 RBIs in 82 at bats. In his first full season as a starter Wiel batted .260 with five home runs and 44 RBIs as the Commodores won the 2014 College World Series. After the season he played summer baseball for the

Sanford Mainers The Sanford Mainers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Sanford, Maine. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays their home games at Goodall Park. In late 2001, New England Collegiate Baseball League ap ...

of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. As a redshirt junior he posted a .316 average with 14 home runs and a team-high 65 RBIs.

Professional career

Minnesota Twins

Wiel was selected in the 12th round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the

. After signing he was assigned to the

Elizabethton Twins The Elizabethton Twins were a Minor League Baseball team of the Appalachian League and a Rookie-level affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They were located in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and were named for their major league affiliate. The team playe ...

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 ...

, hitting .194 in 13 games played before breaking his hand in July. The following season Wiel played for the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Midwest League, playing in 128 games with a .259 batting average with 19 home runs, 86 RBIs and 75 runs scored. In 2017 he batted .250 with 13 home runs and 67 RBIs for the Fort Myers Miracle of the Class A Advanced

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

. Wiel began the 2018 season with the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern League and batted .311 with seven home runs and 58 RBIs and started in the Southern League All-Star Game. He earned a late season promotion to the AAA

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

. Wiel spent the 2019 season with Rochester and hit 40 doubles and 24 home runs with a .254 batting average. Wiel did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wiel was added to the Twins' 60-man player pool for the shortened MLB season, but did not make an appearance for the big league team. In 2021, Wiel played in 2 games for the Triple-A

St. Paul Saints The St. Paul Saints are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and have played their home games at CHS Field since 2015. They prev ...

before landing on the injured list on May 12 with an undisclosed injury. The injury was later revealed to be a quadriceps injury, and Wiel was released by the Twins organization on August 25 after embarking on a rehab assignment.

High Point Rockers

On February 16, 2022, Wiel signed with the High Point Rockers of the

International career

He represented the Netherlands national baseball team at the

2023 World Baseball Classic The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), an international professional baseball tournament, is set to be the fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. It was originally set for 2021 (as per tradition to hold the event every four years), but wa ...

Personal life

Wiel's father, Randy Wiel, was the head basketball coach at UNC-Asheville and Middle Tennessee State. Randy is from

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

, making his son eligible to represent Curaçao and the Netherlands internationally.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiel, Zander 1993 births Living people Dutch people of Curaçao descent Dutch people of American descent American people of Dutch descent American people of Curaçao descent Baseball players from Tennessee Vanderbilt Commodores baseball players Baseball outfielders Baseball first basemen Elizabethton Twins players Cedar Rapids Kernels players Fort Myers Miracle players Chattanooga Lookouts players Rochester Red Wings players St. Paul Saints players High Point Rockers players People from Murfreesboro, Tennessee