Hartwig is the 326th former Northwoods League player to debut in MLB
Rochester, Minn. – Former Battle Creek Bomber Grant Hartwig made his Major League debut for the New York Mets on Monday, June 19, 2023. Hartwig is the 326th former Northwoods League player to reach the Major League level.
Hartwig, who played collegiately at Miami University of Ohio, played for the Bombers in 2020. He was signed by the Mets as an undrafted free agent after the 2021 MLB Draft.
In 2020 with the Bombers, Hartwig pitched in four games and was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA. Over 7.0 innings he struck out seven and had one save.
Hartwig started his professional career in 2021 with the Mets team in the Rookie level Florida Complex League. After four games he went to the St. Lucie Mets of the Low-A Southeast League. Between the two clubs he was a combined 0-1 with a 3.09 ERA in eight games. He pitched in 11.2 innings and struck out 12 while walking four. He also had three saves.
In 2022 Hartwig started the season with St. Lucie and then was promoted, after 10 games, to the Brooklyn Cyclones of the Hi-A South Atlantic League. After 11 games with Brooklyn, he moved up again to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies of the AA Eastern League. He would be promoted again to finish the season to the Syracuse Mets of the AAA International League. For the season he appeared in 39 games and was 6-2 with a 1.75 ERA. He struck out 83 batters in 56.2 innings while saving 13 games.
Prior to his call-up to the Mets, Hartwig had appeared in 21 games with Syracuse and was 3-2 with a 4.21 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 25.2 innings. In his Major League debut against the Houston Astros, Hartwig entered the game in the 9th inning in relief of former La Crosse Logger Max Scherzer. He would pitch one inning allowing no runs on one hit.
###
The Battle Creek Battle Jacks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 27th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 250 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB Gold Glove finalist and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.battlejacksbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set Battle Creek as your favorite team.
